It all started Online
by transformers001
Summary: Post Movie. Loki is sent to Earth to complete his sentence, but the unforeseen occurs. Loki sees more to The Avengers and Humanity than he thought possible, and when he discovers the plans Thanos has, everyone will be in danger, especially Loki. FROSTIRON.
1. Prologue

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry I have dissapeared for a few months. I've been in and out of hospital. I've decide to start writing this story instead. It's Frostiron, and I swear I will sink with this ship. 'Between a bed and a hard place will' be put on holdfor the moment. I prmoise this story will get a story line eventually. It was inspired by a chat I had on Omegle. So sit back, relax and enjoy 'It all started Online'**

**Warning: Will contain smut/lemons, torture/blood/gore, angst and alot of feelings. This story is heavy Frostiron, so don't board this ship if you don't like it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any associated characters. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this and wouldn't be dying from the feels of the presented characters in this story. Enjoy!**

_italic - _Flashback

"text " - Speech

'text' - Thoughts

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**Prologue**

Loki couldn't quite believe the situation he was in. A few months ago, he had been in prison on Asgard, sulking away and planning his next big escape. The next minute, he was on Midgard, surrounded by the filth of mortality and living in a small but cosy flat in New York.

_The Allfather approached the cell, the lone figure looking up at the first presense of life he had seen in months. Loki sneered as he saw who was approaching._

_"Odin Allfather, to what honour do I have in being graced with your sight." Loki scoffed, heavy sarcasm dripping off his tongue. Odin frowned at the hostility._

_"You won't talk to your father like that, whether you are in a cell or not." Odin replied calmly._

_Loki's eyes snapped towards Odin, a scowl placed on his face, "You are not my father."_

_Odin sighed, "You may not be my relation in blood, but you will always be my son, despite the course of your action."_

_Loki turned his eyes away, hate and rage filling his core until he felt sick. The magical shackles that binded him were a constant reminder that he was now nothing more than an animal, being put in the corner because he had misbehaved. At least in the cell Loki felt the safety of being safe from Thanos's ever searching grasp._

_'You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain.' The others words echoed in Loki's head and he shuddered at the constant reminder that he was being hunted down after his failure on midgard._

_"What do you want? Or are you just here to admire your relic?" Loki asked, not looking at the Allfather._

_Odin walked to the gate, summoning Gungnir in his hand. As Odin brought down Gungnir to the ground, the resounding clang released Loki from his bindings. Loki rubbed his wrists that were still tender from being held for so long. Odin walked over to Loki and offered out his hand to help Loki up. Loki ignored it, standing up on numb legs that had not been used properly in months._

_"You will be sent to Midgard to live out the rest of your punishment. You will only have access to your magic if your life is threatened." Odin said, leading out his adopted son. Loki froze as Odin finished those words._

_"What?" Loki asked, disgusted._

_"You shall be sent to Midgard, to correct your wrongs, and make peace with the humans. You will not get your magic back completely until your apology has been fufilled." Odin finished, turning back to Loki and banging Gungnir on the floor once again._

_Loki felt a fimiliar rushing sensation as he was pulled through space, and didn't feel as he crashed into a balcony on Midgard._

And so Loki was left to his own devices on Midgard. He made it his duty to not let the threat of mortality loom over his greatness. He was still a God, and he put it on himself to still be above the pathetic humans that so blindly crawled over the rock they called Earth.

But certain events had proceeded that Loki could not have predicted. For instance, the particular balcony that Loki had landed on so happened to belong to a one Tony Stark.

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**That's it for the prologue. The next few chapter will be mostly back story. How Loki and Tony Stark meet again, how Loki gets a house and lives in society. And then, then the real plot will begin. *Cackles Madly while running off into the distance.**


	2. I Just had that fixed, you know!

**AN: Welcome to Chapter One of it All Started Online. I don't have a Beta reader, so please ignore the crappy spelling, I try my best. Read and Review, and Loki will give you his spare helmet.**

**Loki: WHAT!**

**Me: Ehehehe**

**Also, Dad bought me The Avengers on bluray. **_**What is air?!**_

_italics - _Thoughts

"text" - speech

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, I wouldn't be so excited about getting a disc with 'The Avengers' plastered on it.**

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**I Just Had That Balcony Fixed!**

_Three Months Ago_

Tony wandered around the newly dubbed 'Avengers tower.' It had been a few months after Loki had bought his creepy alien buddies through the portal in New York, and Tony had just finished making the final adjustments to the repairs. Now the tower once again stood in all of its former glory, excepts there was a lone 'A' instead of 'STARK,' and their was still a little dint on the floor that the team had decided to leave imbedded when The Hulk had smashed Loki.

Tony smiled, looking down at the spot. If it hadn't of been for flying a nuke through space, almost getting eaten by several space whales and being thrown out the window by a Norse God, Tony may have only focused on the good feelings that the hole brought to himself and the other occupants of the tower.

Thinking about the attack on New York, Tony did have to smile. All of the Avengers now more or less lived permanently in the tower.

For a while it had only been Tony, Bruce and Pepper. Thor had taken Loki back to Asgard, Steve had gone back to his apartment in Brooklyn, and Natasha and Clint were still actively working on missions with SHIELD.

But after a few days, Natasha and Clint started stopping by after missions for rest. Slowly but surely, they made their own spaces in the tower. Steve had begun to grow lonely at his apartment, and he decide to move into the tower a week after the attack. Thor had returned from Asgard after Loki had been sentenced and stayed at there while he wasn't with Jane.

And so Tony gave them each their own levels, and allowed them to be personalised by each Avenger. So it was that 'Avengers tower' was being used for its purpose.

The morning Loki arrived, however, had neither been planned or expected. On that particular morning, Tony had been sleeping peacefully in his bed, his internal body clock relieved that it was beyond eleven in the morning. So when there was a loud crash outside his door, he wasn't as upset as he usaully would have been at sudden morning wake ups.

Tony's brown eyes snapped open and he fell out of bed in shock, groaning as he landed face first.

"Jarvis, status?" Tony mumbled as he untangled himself from his bed covers.

"It would appear as though a foreign object has landed on the balcony of The Avengers tower, sir." The Ai replied in a smooth, British voice. Tony paused for a second to allow his body to catch up with his actions.

"Is there anyone else in." Tony asked.

"No sir, did you want me to inform anyone of the incident?" Jarvis questioned.

"No, i'll handle it. And start up the coffee machine." Tony said, "No one should have no caffeine when doing this much in the morning." He added on as an after thought.

"Of course, sir." Jarvis replied, with a hint of sarcasm. _Great_, Tony thought, _his AI was becoming a smart ass._

Tony wandered down the corridor in his sweats and a t-shirt, rubbing his face and forcing his body to wake up from the sudden disturbance. He smoothed his wild hair to a presentable way before going to inspect the damage that had occured outside.

Tony looked at the massive crater that now decorated his newly built balcony. Their was still smoke rising from the crater, and Tony didn't bother trying with subtelty as he approached the hole, a frown already on his face.

"You know, this is my tower, and you just put a hole in my place. I just had that balcony fixed!" Tony called into the crater.

When there was no reply, Tony walked up to the hole, only to find it conviniently empty.

"Of course no one's going to be in there, they don't want to cover the cost." Tony mumbled, turning around, "Not that I don't have the money to get it fixed though." Tony walked back in to the building.

"Jarvis, get someone on to fix that, and I hope my coffee is..." Tony was cut off mid speech as he felt a cold hand gripping at his neck.

"It would just so happen you would be the first mortal I come across. You have the privalige of being the first human to die by my hand." A very familiar Norse God's voice said.

_Shit._ Tony thought as he struggled to get the hand off his neck. As Tony started to lose precious air, he felt the hand slacken and watched as a pile of Norse God crumpled to the floor.

_Well, that doesn't happen everyday, _Tony mussed as he looked at the unconcious pile of Loki. In a stroke of genius, Tony decided to take his own course of action.

"Jarvis, don't tell anyone that Loki is here, I want to deal with this. He doesn't look like much of a threat at the moment, anyway." Tony said as he nudged Loki with his toe, making sure he wasn't pulling a stunt.

"Whatever you say, sir." Jarvis replied. Tony had the feeling if Jarvis could, he would say 'I have a bad feeling about this,' but Tony wasn't going to pass on the chance of studying a God up close.

Tony started dragging Loki into the tower, suprised at how light the God felt. He eventually got them onto the lift and down into his workshop. By the time they got down, Loki was still out cold.

_Damn, he must of really taken a hit_ Tony thought as he dragged Loki into a secure cell, with nothing but a bed. In the repairs, the Avengers decided to put a holding cell in for temporary cases, and it was times like these Tony was glad on these team desicions. But was unfortunate to remember this particular cell wasn't fitted with any magic dampners.

"Any tips on how far away any of the others are?" Tony asked out loud.

"The other Avengers are still currently working on their various projects." Jarvis replied. Excellent.

"Good, but let me know when any of them are making a return for home base. I don't want to share my prize quite yet." Tony finished, turning to look back at the cage Loki was being held in.

It was another ten minutes before Loki finally started to come around. Tony was alerted to this by the low moan that escaped the cell. Tony got up from his desk and wondered over to the cage, holding a now very furious looking God.

"Well, reindeer games, its not everyday I see one of you come crashing out of the sky and into my balcony. I just had that fixed, you know." Tony started.

Bright emerald eyes flashed up angrily to meet brown ones, "I got that message already, metal man. You would be wise to let me out of this before you need a new one as well." Loki sneered, not breaking his gaze.

"Oh, if you're still all 'kneel mortals,' then why don't you bust out of the cage yourself? I'm sure you've figured out by now the cage has no magic dampners placed." Tony said, calling the bluff.

Loki couldn't help but falter. The reminder that he no longer possesed his magic stiffened his usually silver tongue, but he remained silent and didn't break his fiery gaze.

"That's what I thought. I figured even after crashing into a balcony you would still be packing a swing. Not only to mention that you weigh no more than a sack of potatoes." Tony continued, holding his stare just as well. Loki's gaze narrowed and he walked closer to the edge of the cage.

"I will not stand here to be talked down to by nothing more than a mortal. I am a God, and you will be wise to respect that." Loki replied.

"Well, I might be no God, but i'm not the one thats standing behind an inch of bullet proof glass." Tony smirked, getting a bit of joy when Loki's eyes narrowed futher. Seeing that Loki was going to be in no mood for being studied, Tony decided to leave the room.

"Is that why you still can't sleep at night, Man of Iron." He heard Loki say.

"What?" Tony asked in confusion, spinning around to once again meet the Gods eyes.

"The memories of the past still haunt you. Barton told me all about that incident of yours with the terrorists. How did it feel, to be pulled open and feel every moment of it?" Loki questioned, a sick grin forming on his face.

Tony felt his very heart freeze and felt as his breathing got heavier.

"It burns you to be reminded, does it not? The feeling of being awake, while your very worst fears come crashing down on you. Even after this time, you still hear them, and no matter how much you drown yourself to forget, you will always hear your screams." Loki finished, a hand placed on the glass.

Tony said nothing as he gazed into emerald eyes, the foreign language reaching his ears, and the memories of pain almost crippling him there in front of the Norse God.

It takes everything for Tony not to run out of the room, and even as he is walking away, the sound of Loki's laughter makes his face pale even futher.

He _really_ needed a drink.

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**Hope you guys enjoyed. I promise plot and love will come later. I'm not the one for the jump the boat and feel the love. They will break each other first *grins,* but love will come! I promise my loyal readers! *runs off into the distance with The Avengers bluray.***


	3. Scotch, Mans Best Friend

**AN: Enjoy this chapter. Read and Review and you'll get Stark Industry cookies!**

**Warning: Angst!Tony is worse than a fan-girling teenager and some Steve and Tony bonding bromance. (Don't panic my pretties, the Frostiron IS coming, I promise.)**

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: I don't own it *sobs in the corner.* **

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**Scotch, a Mans Best Friend**

Tony walked out of the lab, not once turning around to see the still grinning God. He tried to keep his emotions in check as he closed the door and walked up the stairs.

"Jarvis! Make sure no one can get into that lab, no matter what or who says they have to go in." Tony said, still feeling like he was going to pass out.

"And for God's sake, no pun intended, if Loki gets out, do not sound the alarm. I still want to see what this guy is capable of." Tony threw on as an after thought, stepping into the elevator and going up to the penthouse.

"Sir, are you sure..."

"Just do it Jarvis, no arguments. Dead lock the Lab, and don't raise anything suspicious with the others. I don't think they'll enjoy the guest." Tony said, staring into one of the security cameras as if he was looking directly at Jarvis. _Not that i'm exactly enjoying his company, either_ Tony thought as the elevator started moving up.

"If anything happens, alert me on my phone."

"Of course sir. May I inform you that Mr Rogers will be the first back to the tower in a couple of hours, and Miss Potts will be returning from a press conference later this evening."

Tony stepped off the elevator and looked over to the clock to see that it was close to one in the afternoon. He then decided that starting on his drinks would be a great substituion to lunch. In fact, the thought of lunch made him sick to his stomach.

"Okay Jarvis. Chuck on some music, yeah? Something loud, and a lot of kick." Tony said, walking over to his bar and pouring some scotch in a glass as ACDC 'Back in Black' started blaring through the speakers.

As Tony fininshed his first drink and started to pour his second one, he looked over to the crater filled balcony and shuddered. He would get someone on that, but for now, any thought of the God being in pain was a good thoguht for Tony.

He finished his second drink.

Steve always hated returning to a drunken Stark in the afternoon, especially when he was practically passed out on the floor and Steve had, key word _had_, had a good day.

Today was no different.

Steve immediately knew something was wrong when as he stepped off onto his floor, he could hear the faint sound of music coming through the ceiling. Which meant Stark had music on extremely loud in a place other than his workshop. That meant one of two things.

One: He was repairing something on one of the floors. Two: He was getting drunk. And Steve found that it tended to be the later nine out of ten times.

Steve sighed, throwing his bag onto his bed and returning to the lift.

"Hey Jarvis? Which level is Tony on?" Steve asked, waiting for the reply as he got onto the elevator.

"His on the penthouse floor, Mr Rogers" Jarvis replied nonchalantely. _Definetely not good._

As the elevator got closer, the music got increasingly louder, until Steve had to cover his ears as he exited the lift.

"Jarvis, can you turn that down!" Steve practically shouted, looking around for Tony. Jarivs lowered the volumes and Steve took his hands off his ears, sighing with relief. But that's when Steve noticed the hole in the balcony.

He stiffened immediately, looking around for signs of an attack. He scanned around, but then thought it wasn't likely that there was an attack, otherwise Jarvis would have informed him. _Then how on earth did a crater get there then?_

Steve heard a low moan and snapped his head toward the sound. Steve saw a tipped over glass and a very plae looking Tony Stark on the floor, one arm limp and the other hanging loosely across his torso. Steve went over immediately.

"Stark, what the hell happened?!" Steve flew his arms wildely over Tony, and pointing over to the hole in the balcony. Tonys' gaze followed his, coming to rest on the hole.

"Oh, hey Cap, where's your flag?" Tony questioned, eyes glazing over.

Steve looked at him, moving the glass onto the bar table and gently lifting the man and placing him onto a couch. Tony groaned and paled even futher. Steve got him a glass of water which Tony gladly accepted, sipping slowly.

"How much did you drink Tony?" Steve asked, concern flashing through him.

"Please, don't go all mother hen on me..." Tony mumbled.

"Stark..." Steve said in a dangerously low tone.

"I don't know, Cap, I lost count after the ninth..." tony said, gazing over to the crater again, pain flashing through his features.

Steve sighed, "Tony, I thought we've gone over several times to be carfeul how much you drink. I know it's hard for you to stop, but you don't have serum running through you that will stop you from suffering from alcohol poisoning." He finished, looking into brown eyes that were looking elsewhere as he continued sipping water. Steve turned to see he was looking at the hole.

"What happened there, anyway?" Steve asked, glaninc at the hole.

"Um, I crashed..." Tony mumbled. Steve's eyes widened in shock.

"You went flying in the suit when you were **drunk**?" Steve said, gazing over Tony for injuries. Tony shrugged, finishing his water.

"Yeah, sure, but i'm okay, right Jarvis?" Tony slurred, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"Sir has not inflicted any damage upon himself when he crashed, although a few of his braing cells may have suffered loss in this session of consumption of alcoholic drins." Jarvis replied smoothly. Tony stuck his tongue out at his AI.

Steve grabbed Tonys' glass and went to fill it up again. As Steve came back, he heard Tony mumbling something.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Steve asked. Tony looked up, and Steve noticed they were shiny. _Oh no._

"I, I was thinking, what would have happened if I hadn't been so self centered, I may have saved Yinsen..." Tony said, looking down at his hands.

Steve sat down, placing the water onto the table and put a comforting hand onto tonys' shoulder.

"You did everything that you could, it wasn't your fault."

Tony looked up, a new rage burning in his eyes.

"No, I could have done it. I could have saved him. I was just too stupid, I was just too weak to help. I let them get away with this. And then I slaughtered the people in that village. God, I probably killed women and children, who didn't choose to be in that situation..." Tony choked, trying to desperately hold in the tears that were pooling in his eyes.

"Tony." Steve said, waiting for Tony to look at him.

Tony looked up, confident he could hold back his emotions. He sucked in a shaky breath, waiting for Steve's response.

"You are one of the bravest men I know. When you flew into the portal with that missle, you knew it was a one way trip, but you did it, because you knew you would save the lives of countless others. Those people took you, and you were fighting for your life. There are so many people that are glad to see that you are alive." Steve finished.

Tony looked up, and a stray tear escaped. Tony sniffed, keeping the rest at bay.

"But why did I survive? I still see them, I still feel everything... I'm not worth it. I'm not a hero, i'm just a broken wreck." Tony finished, looking down at the ground again.

"You will probably never forget, and yes you are hurt. But we can put the pieces back together. all of us can help you. and I say all of us, because you are worth it Tony. Never doubt it. We all care." Steve finished. The two sat there, Tony starting to feel better. Loki's words would haunt him that night, but he would sleep better because of Steve's support. No more words were spoken as Tony slowly finished his water and slowly started sobbering again.

Pepper did come to the tower later that afternoon, and Steve told her what had happened. Pepper and Tony had broken up after the New York incident, but Pepper still deeply cared for him. So they both felt comfort when Pepper just gave him a hug and didn't pester him with the mornings press conference. The three stayed up, eating chinese and sharing some light hearted stories. Tony started feeling better, and slowly forget about the Norse God that had shared his cruel words.

Meanwhile, Loki was pacing around in his cell, frustrated that he did not have the strength to penetrate through the galss in his weakened state. With no magic, and seemingly being forgotten by the rest of Yggdrasil, Loki could do nothing but reflect what had happened.

And while he thought, he couldn't help but feel a pang of something when he thought about Tony. The Man of Iron could have so easily killed him, yet, he had brought him down here to become an experiment. Loki would not allow himself to become yet another things pet, especially a low life mortal human.

But as Loki sat and the quietness once again began to enter his mind, he couldn't help but feel something, and Loki was immediately disgusted with himself. He banged his hand on the glass, leaving it there and pressed his forehead against his prison.

For as Loki sat and pondered and wondered what his fate was, even whulst being hunted, he couldn't help a certain thing he felt this day.

He felt bad for saying what he had said to Tony. And the regret made him hate himself and Stark more than ever.

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**Wow, there's actually something happening. The plot will slowly be intergrated into the story as Tony and Loki begin getting closer. Thankyou for reading this chapter. Reviews would be appreciated, and I will start responding to them after each chapter. As for the Stark Industry cookies...**

***Loki grabs them and runs off***

**Me: Loki get back here with the cookies! There for my precious readers!**

**Loki: I DO WHAT I WANT**

***Chases after him as he cackles, running off into the distance.***


	4. Who the Hell is Thanos?

**AN: Welcome to chapter three, precious readers. I love you all! And thankyou for taking the time to read the story.**

**Warning: Gore and torture in this chapter. **

_Italics - _Dream

"Text" - Speech

'text' - Thoughts

**Disclaimer: And I say "I own the Avengers!" Everyone laughed and I frowned at the reality check.**

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**Who the Hell is Thanos?**

_Tony opened his eyes, staring into the red light of a hand held camera. His eyes widened as he heard the foreign voices all around him. He looked around, observing, still trying to adjust his eyes to the light and to see where he was._

_He instantly became aware of the pain in his chest, and he tried to look down to see what was causing it, but found that his body was paralised. He began to panic, heavy breaths coming out loudly. He heard as someone said something in another langauge, and felt as something heavy struck his head._

_Tony's vision swam and his head pounded. He wanted to lift his hand to apply pressure but he couldn't. Again the panic returned, and Tony tried to control himself, but the instinct to survive and escape over ruled his rational thought._

_So when he was hit in the head again, he was not as suprised, but not prepared for the pain nonetheless. He was close to passing out and he saw the black fill his eyes as he was tugged up by the arms from his chair. Tony tried to stand by himself, not wanting to show any weakness but he couldn't get his legs to support his weight, and he fell to the ground in a heap, the World spinning around him._

_The shouting started again, and he was hastily pulled to his feet. He felt a strange tugging sensation as he was pulled up and his chest suddenly exploded in felt something warm and wet dripping down his chest. That's when he remembered the bomb and everything came rushing back._

_He felt as he was dragged along a jaggered, rocky floor, cutting his knees into a bloody mess, but it did not relieve any of the pain he was feeling in his chest and he wanted nothing more than to colapse there and then ._

_He was dragged into a dark room, when suddenly two large flourescent lights came on. He looked over to a single bed, a white sheet was placed on it, and next to the bed lay a table with rusty looking medical tools. Tony flew into a complete panic now._

_He struggled against the caloused hands the gripped his forearms and tried to fight against them as they dragged him onto the bed. He kicked all of his limbs in desperation but it was useless as he was strapped down onto the bed. The men put an IV in, but Tony didn't see any form of anesthetic and immediately he started to get cold sweats pouring down his head. He started gasping heavily as a man grabbed a scalpel and lowered it to his chest._

_"Please! I'll give you anything you want, just, give me something for the pain, don't...ARGH!" He screamed as the surgeon began to cut into his chest._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki never slept, for he feared what lay in his dreams. And especially now because he was out of the protection that the Asgardian cells provided him with, he was afraid of what the reality of being stuck on Midgard would bring him as well.

But being in the proson, once again, he found himself exceptionally bored. Withought his magic or any texts to keep him occupied, he found his eyes slowly slipping as he sat against the wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Tony screamed as the pain tore through him like a raging bull. He felt as though he was on fire, and he would have given anything for an ounce of relief. He watched in horror as his body was cut up in front of him, and saw as bits of metal were rudely pulled out, being placed into a container. He continued shouting until his voice grew eventually didn't have the energy to fight, feeling as tears escaped as the surgery contiued and pain came in ever increasing waves._

_It wasn't until Tony saw, blood and sweat covering his body, a man grab a foreign object and attatching it to a car battery. He saw as the man looked at him, a look of sympathy flashing on his face. He lowered the device into Tony's chest, and that was when Tony passed out from the pain..._

Tony bolted straight up from his bed, sweat and the memories of pain tearing through him. He placed his hand against his arc reactor, feeling as it suftly hummed and caused no pain at the contact. His heart, however, continued to race

Tony pushed a shaky hand through his hair, wiping it on his shirt when it sheened from the sweat. He shivered, looking over to his clock to see the time. When it flashed 3:34 AM, he frowned and sat up, taking deep breaths and rubbing his eyes.

He knew there was no chance of him getting back to sleep after that dream and as his breathing lowered to a normal rate, he shakily stood up and threw on a shirt. He opened the door to his room, heading down the hallway and getting into the elevator. He pressed the button that would take him to his workshop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_"You have failed, little Asgardian. He is dissapointed to see that you have crawled off into a corner, seemingly invisible. How did you become silent?" The Other started, gaze flickering into Loki's eyes._

_Loki looked around and saw that he was once again in the barren wastes of a long forgotten land, crawling with decay and death. Loki smiled slightly._

_"I'm so dissapointed for your masters loss, perhaps, you can give him the service that he so desperately wanted." Loki replied, looking at The Others hooded form._

_The Other flew over, getting within inches of Loki. Loki tried not to flinch back as The Other raised his hand toward him._

_"Oh, if only you realised the consequences of your actions. You do not realise what you have set in motion." He hissed. Loki raised an eyebrow._

_"You have no effect on me anymore, I know I am beyond you. Why don't you run back to Thanos before he starts missing you." Loki growled, knowing he was safe in his subconcious._

_The Other started cackling wildly. "You would be wise to never say that name again, my little pet. You do not understand the power of a name. And you think we have lost you? You doubt our power, and you have yet to realise we are closer to you than ever before." The Other stepped closer, gripping Loki's arm with extreme force._

_Loki's eyes widened, looking down at it in shock. In other dreams and meditations, Loki knew that if The Other touched him, all he would feel was a sharp pain. If The Other was touching him now... This was real._

The Other grinned, looking at Loki's reaction. He saw as the fear flooded through the Asgardian's eyes.

"Now you realise. What we warned you. You cannot escape us. We will find you, and when we do, HE will inflict so much upon you, that you will beg for death a thousand times over." The Other tightened the grip upon Loki's arm, and he felt as the bones started to give way, until their was a sickening crunch that resounded through the night.

Loki hissed, trying not to scream out, and bit down into his lip so hard that he felt as it started to bleed. Loki cradled his arm. He knew that The Other had officially teleported his subconcious form to this land. Which meant that if he slept, he would be forced into this place again.

The Other laughed, looking at the weakened Asgardian, still clutching his arm.

"But until we find what pettyful rock you have landed yourself on, I think we can start our punishment now, don't you think?" The Other Grinned, stepping closer to Loki, "But this is only the beggining. This is but the prelude to what he will do to you. When we find you, you will wish this again."

Loki heard the sickening hiss as half a dozen Chitauri came slinking into the secluded spot. He knew he had to force himself awake, but without his magic, he didn't know how.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He got off the lift and walked the steps toward the door to his workshop. He punched in the code to his workshop and went over to his desk where he was still perfecting his Mark Eight suit. He had completed it ages ago, but now he was working on inputing several other little features so that this suit would be the most dangerous thing in all of the American airspace.

He worked for a while, focusing on refining more dangerous armor piercing shots when he suddenly remembered he was not alone. A particualr Norse God that was still in his cage, one that had been the reason for Tony coming down to his workshop at this time of the morning.

Tony slowly turned around , looking over towards the cage that held Loki. He released the large breath he was holding when he saw that the God was sleeping, his head lolled over slightly. Loki was leaning up against one of the walls, with his long legs spread over the ground.

Tony walked over, observing the sleeping God. His sharp cheek bones looked more noticable, obciously from lack of food. And if it was all possible, Loki looked more pale than before. His raven black hair was slightly longer, and Tony suddenly felt the urge to push the lone strand out of his face.

Tony stood there, shocked at his thoughts and slowl shook his head. 'Loki must be really digging a hole in my head.' Tony thought as he wondered over to his suit. He would have to at least get Loki some form of food. He couldn't have the carcass of a God rotting away in his tower. The stink would turn away potential investments.

That's when he heard Loki, clear as day. Tony almost had a heart attack.

"I'm so dissapointed for your masters loss, perhaps, you can give him the service that he so desperately wanted." Loki finished, his eyes open, but glazed over. Tony wondered over again, curiosity peaking. It looked like Loki was dreaming, but his voice was as if he was awake.

"You have no effect on me anymore, I know I am beyond you. Why don't you run back to Thanos before he starts missing you." Loki said, eyes flickering slightly, but otherwise still glazed.

Tony's forehead crinkled in confusion. "Who the hell is Thanos?" He said outloud, more to himself than anything. The name did not sound familiar, but when Tony said the name, he felt an odd shiver, and it almost felt like the room temperature dropped suddenly, "That's not weird in anyway... Jarvis, any records on this Thanos guy?" Tony said outloud, still looking at Loki's dreaming form. Tony shivered again.

"No records, sir" Jarvis responded smoothly. Tony nodded, he'd have to ask Loki about that sometime. Tony observed for a few more minutes, but Loki said nothing more. Tony shrugged and turned around.

Tony heard the sickening snap and flew around to look at Loki. He sat ther, cradling his arm, and biting his lip, hard enough that it drew blood. Not good.

Tony opened the cage, adrenaline pumping through his body as he looked down at the Asgardian. Loki's eyes were wide open, but they were still glazed over like he was still dreaming.

"Ah, Loki, Earth to Loki! Come on buddy, time to wake up! I know your dreaming, but I tend to like interupting them when I hear snapping bones." Loki made no response, eyes darting around to look at unseen objects. Even Tony could see that Loki's panic was increasing in this state.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Come on, think Stark, what do you do when... Of course!" Tony said, an idea clicking in his head. He sat beside Loki and put a gentle hand on Loki's shoulder.

"Hey, hey Loki. Your in Avengers Tower. I'm the only one here with you though, your safe, come on, it's time to wake up now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Chitauri creeped closer, there sour breath was already starting to penetrate Loki's senses. He backed into some corner, preparing himself for the worse. The Other headed the group.

"You failed, Asgardian. You promised us the Tesseract, and now we don't have it. We could have shown you unlimited power, but you decided to let the mortals over power you. And for your discretion, it is time to face the beggining of your punishment." He said, creeping ever closer to Loki.

_"Hey, hey Loki..." _Loki froze, glancing around. Stark?

_"You're in Avengers Tower. I'm the only one here, your safe..." _Loki looked at the approaching Chitauri, but they hesitated, seeing his actions. It was clear to Loki that they could not here the voice.

_"Come on, it's time to wake up now..." _Tonys' voice faded away. Loki panicked, slamming his eyes shut and repeatedly thinking of Midgard, hoping that it would be enough...

And he opened his eyes, flinging out his right arm when feeling the pressure on his shoulder. He looked around to see he was in his cell. He had escaped his subconcious form. For now, he had escaped the clutches of The Other.

Tony stumbled back, feeling as a hand cracked into his jaw. He pushed his hand against it, looking at Loki who was now acting like a frightened animal. His eyes were flicking around taking in everything. Tony gently put his hands into the air, showing he wasn't a threat. Loki still packed a punch, despite appearing to have no magic.

"Hey, calm down, your safe now, you don't want to hurt that arm anymore than you have to, yeah?" Tony said, slowly approaching the frightened God.

Loki glanced down at the arm he was still clutching. The pain was still flowing in intense waves and Loki wanted nothing more than to heal his injury and stop showing weakness in front of the mortal.

Tony walked over closer to Loki, slowly crouching down infront of him. Loki flinched slightly, fear still evident in his eyes and tony tried to look as relaxed and calm as possible, despite wanting to fire off a million questions to Loki.

"What happened? I'm pretty sure it's hard to brake your arm, especially in you sleep." Tony stated, looking into shiny emerald eyes.

Loki stared back into the brown ones, trying to hold back the sudden waves of emotion that cascaded through him. If his physical body was getting affected by his subconcious one, it meant Thanos had started his hunt. Thanos...

Tony saw the conflicting emotions that flashed through Lokis' eyes. Tony sighed. He had to get Loki medical attention. He was sure that the arm was shattered beyond anything, judging by the sound of the noise he had heard earlier. But he couldn't exactly take Loki to the local emergency department.

He thought about Banner, but he was miles away. And as much as Tony trusted him, he didn't think Bruce would agree to having to help the God. But then again, Loki's obvious pain outruled the idea of trying to fix it himself.

"Loki, we need to get this arm fixed, because it looks too bad for me to try and fix. I know someone who can help you, but you have to trust me." Tony said, still looking at Loki. He knew it was a big gamble, but finding out who this Thanos is was much more important. If he could do this to Loki, then he would be a much bigger threat for the Earth.

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**Review Responses**

**cara - tanaka - **Thankyou for all of your reviews in the previous chapters. They give me the edge to bring regular updates. You are my first reviewer for this story, and i'm glad your enjoying it!

Also, Thanks for the enormous amount of followings and favourites. It makes me happy that people are interested in my work!

**So it begins... Thanks for reading. Reviews earn pudding!**

**Loki: NO ONE TOUCHES MY PUDDING!**

**Me: *Staring at empty cup* Uh Oh *Running into the distance***


	5. I need you to trust me on this one

**AN: Chapter four everyone! Updates may begin to slow down soon, as I am not only going to be starting on another fanfiction project with another author (To be revealed soon!) But I am also working on my own original work, as well as getting ready to finish year 11, which means exam revision (As much as I would love to work on this all the time, I don't have that, time!) But I will write and outline this as much as possible so I can bring out as much as possible, because the feedback i'm getting for this is amazing ans I don't want you guys waiting!**

**But that's it for my life story, on with the show!**

**Warnings: **A bit of angst!Loki... But who doesn't enjoy it, Loki you miserable bastard (Let me love you!) and the starting of a certain relationship. *Insert Cheshire Cat grin here*

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: And then God said "I shall own The Avengers!" I'm still waiting...**

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**I need you to trust me on this one... No, i'm not getting emotional!**

Tony had several crazy thoughts and ideas. Infact, bringing an unconcious Norse God into Avengers Tower had been the craziest. Had being the key saying. This was definately worse. Much, much worse. And Tony hoped he would live to tell the tale, because it would make a damn great one. If he was insanely piss drunk and telling it to his grand kids.

Tony immediately saw Loki as a problem he needed to fix. Well, that's what he kept telling himself. That's how his father did things. If there was a problem, fix it. Not that Tony wanted to follow the persona of his old man. But Tony was always practical.

And so Loki was a problem, and he had to fix it. Although, he wasn't quite sure what to call the exterior motive that had forced him to help Loki less than half an hour ago. Any normal person would have run out of the room, screaming bloody murder and raising the alarm, getting SHIELD and the National Gaurd on it, but Tony Stark, however, wasn't any normal person.

But despite this, and after convincing himself that Loki really needed the help, he was still nervously waiting for Jarvis to give him the cue that a one Bruce Banner had finished some medical project he was doing, and was coming home, without being escorted by any SHIELD agents for once. Which was way too convinient for Tony's taste. Ever since the Avengers had saved New York, SHIELD had let them go about their own ways, keeping tabs though. Couldn't have a bunch of heroes running around doing whatever they wanted. It was bad for the reputation.

And so now, as Tony was waiting for Jarvis to patch through the call to Bruce, Tony had hoped with all his will that Bruce, for some reason, had lost the ability to pick up a cell phone. Tony would never be so lucky though, despite his genius.

"Banner speaking." Bruce picked up, immediately being professional when a private number rung through, which happened fairly often. Phone lines were always secure these days.

"Ah, hey Bruce, it's me." Tony started, trying to stop his voice from cracking. He was still in the lab, and thankfully Steve never came down there. The technology was still a bit too much for him. But Tony was a bit more concerned with the blank look Loki had plastered on his face, still softly cradling his arm.

"What happened Tony?" Bruce immediately asked, concern evident in his voice.

Tony gave a shaky laugh, "Bruce, why do you immediately assume something's happened? I may just be calling you to see how my favourite science bro is going."

"Because Tony, you never 'just call me,' and you sound like you've been crying." Bruce dead panned. _Damn, why did the doctor have to be so observent?_

Tony sighed, looking at the ever paling Norse God. _Was it possible for him to be doing that?_ "How soon can you be back at the tower?"

"I was planning to crash at a hotel, but i'm already on my way. I should be their in less than three hours. Tony, what really happened?" Bruce said, panic rising slightly.

"I'll tell you when you get to the Tower. But, just promise that you will listen to me, yeah? I need you to trust me on this one." Tony said.

"Fine, but this better not have any future consequences." Bruce said, hanging up the phone and pressing down on the accelerator. Little did either of them know what the consequences were going to be, and that the consequences would rip the team apart and threaten the rest of the Universe.

Bruce parked the car and hastily walked into the tower at about eight in the morning, a few hours after Tony's call. He saw Tony was their already, waiting in the foyer, deep dark circles underneath his eyes, and hair sticking in all directions. Bruce walked faster, worry building up.

"What happened to you?" Bruce asked, looking over Tony for any sign of injuries.

"Um, you better come to the workshop..." Tony said hesitantely, looking away from Banner. _Great job Stark. You obviously feel like becoming a pancake today. And you really couldn't be anymore subtle even if you tried, could you?_

Tony led Bruce to the elevator. When they got in, Tony pushed a hand through his hair, trying to stop himself from shaking.

"Bruce, you're my best buddy, you know that... Right?" Tony started. Bruce lifted a single eyebrow, preparing himself for the worst.

"Tony, just say what you've got to say. You look like your about to have a massive break down." Bruce said, eyes trained on Tony. Tony gave a shaky laugh. Bruce really couldn't have been any closer to the truth.

"Ha, funny about that. But I need you to trust me on this one, and don't... Wait, no, i'm not getting emotional! Any way...um... Their may have been a insty bitsy incident yesterday... Something that may or may not have involved a bit too early of a morning, a lot of booze and a Norse God crashing into the balcony?" Tony finished looking for Bruce's reaction.

Bruce felt his mouth open slightly, heart rate increasing rapidly. _Keep calm Banner, let him explain himself... Who the hell am I kidding. Please, just for the love of God don't let it be..._

The elevator door pinged and opened, in a somewhat dramatic way, revealing the door to Tony's workshop. Bruce looked around, eyes landing on the containment cell, where a pale God sat.

Bruce should have freaked hulked out immediately. In fact, whether it was because of his medical training, or the fact that the Other Guy can be observent when he choose to be, Banner noticed that Loki didn't look like a threat. In fact, he looked pretty dead. If it wasn't for the fact he noticed the subtle rise and fall of his chest, he would have called it a lost cause.

Tony paused, looking to Bruce to see his reaction. He saw as the flash of green went through his eyes, but apart from that, Bruce looke extremely... Curious, more so than extremely pissed off still.

So he looked over at Loki, who looked, well for lack of a better phrase, like shit. His eyes were gazing into the distance, he now seemed to blend in with the white wall behind him and he had not moved an inch. _Was it possible for Gods to go into shock?_

"Tony, i'll give you the privelage of telling me the full story, before the Other Guy makes a mess of this entire building." Bruce said, snapping Tony quickly out of his thoughts.

"Well, you see, what happened? I... Oh, that's right! I was sleeping, peacefully, mind you, and then I heard a crash. Then Jarvis said something crashed outside on the balcony, and I went out and saw a hole in it. I still need that fixed, now that I remember! Jarivs, get on that. Anyway, then reindeer games here decided to go all Disney princess and pass out on me. So I dragged him, like the prince I am, into the lab. He was still passed out by the time I got him into the cage. Then he woke up, going all 'kneel mortals' on me. Then I picked him out for not having magic and being the one stuck behind an inch of bullet proof glass, cause I knew there were no magic dampners in this thing. Then I had a drink, cause I damn well deserved one. It has been a hell of a last couple of days. Then I come in here this morning, and I figured his dreaming, cause his eyes are all glazed over and stuff and he even looked like he was twitching like a puppy. Then there was snapping, and I tried waking him up and he's all voodoo and stuff now and, and..." Tony rambled, without taking a breath and putting himself into a panic.

Bruce put an arm on his, "Tony, you have to calm down! Tell me what happened with the dream, slowly!" Bruce chucked on as an after thought.

Tony took in a shaky breath, "He was dreaming, and I heard him talking, but his eyes were glazed over, ah, Jarvis! Can you put on the security footage?"

Certainly, sir." Jarvis replied, bringing up the camera footage from the workshop and starting it at the point were Tony heard the talking. Tony had fitted sound recording into the room so Bruce saw the entire thing.

Tony saw Bruce look over at Loki, who had yet to move, and very slowly walked over to him. Loki didn't even flinch, even as Bruce crouched down infront of him.

"Loki?" Bruce said softly, staring into the Gods eyes. Loki did nothing.

"Loki, i know your in shock, but I need you to react. I need to know you can hear me. How about we start with blinking, and i'll ask some simple yes or no questions. Blink once for yes and two for no. Do you understand me?"

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but Loki eventually blinked, one purposeful blink.

"Do you know where you are?"

One blink.

"Do you remember how you got to the tower?"

One blink.

"Is your arm sore?"

Nothing happened for a minute. But slowly, ever so slowly, Loki's eyes shifted to look into Bruce's, and he noticed as Loki slightly nodded his head, eyes fogging up.

Bruce didn't ask anymore questions, seeing that the God looked like he wasn't in any state of mind to.

"Okay, I won't ask you anything else, but I need you to co-operate with me so we can get that arm fixed." Bruce said, slowly getting up to grab a medical kit that he kept lying around in the workshop. He also grabbed a medical scanner that he had helped design with Tony, so he could get a good look at Loki's arm. Bruce came back again, and Tony followed him, figuring being by the God's side would bring him some form of comfort.

Bruce didn't question tony's actions.

"Okay Loki, i'll tell you everything that i'm going to do, so we're all on the same page, is that okay?"

Loki nodded again.

"This is just a medical scanner. You won't feel a thing. It will just let me see what has happened to your arm." Bruce explained, firing up the program. He inputed a few functions and it programed itself to emit low level x-rays.

"Loki, if you can, could you lower your leg and hold out your arm?" Bruce asked. Loki did as he was told, wincing as he straightened out his throbbing arm, but he tried to shrug off the pain. _The mortals already see me as weak._

Bruce held the scanner over, getting a clear image of Loki's shattered arm. Bruce had seen bad breaks in his time, but this looked like someone had run over Loki's arm with a truck. There were little shards of bone floating around and there were three large breaks respectively up his forearm. But what concerned Bruce just as much were the other little cracks that ran up and down his arm. Bruce could see they were older injuries, but it worried him that they were still there. Banner concluded that from having no magic, he hadn't been able to quite recover properly from the injuries of their last battle. Banner knew the Aesir healed much faster than humans naturally, but seeing the small amount of damage in one area, Bruce would have hated to see what the rest of his body looked like. Banner shut down the scanner before he got tempted, figuring Loki wouldn't appreciate it. Despite knowing it was from consequence of his own actions against Earth, Bruce was still a doctor first, and seeing that kind of injury still made him frown.

"Your arm is broken in three places, and there's some stray bone floating around. I would normaly put metal braces in and remove the stray shards, but i've got a feeling you won't appreciate that much. And you will probably still heal very fast, either way, but I do need to put your arm in a cast. Will you let me do that?" Bruce said, looking at Loki.

Loki seemed to zone out again, but he nodded his head, a single, stray tear escaping his eye. _Damn._

Tony frowned, looking as the tear snaked its way down his face and fell off his chin, leaving a stained trail. Tony fought the sudden urge to wipe Loki's face dry, and as Banner turned away to get some water, Tony placed a comforting hand on the God's shoulder, unsure of what else he could do. Tony was wondering about the footage he had just watched. There was something that he had noticed that troubled and disturbed him. He would wait till he'd sorted this out before he looked at it again, closely.

Bruce came back, raising his eyebrow slighlty seeing tony's hand on Loki's shoulder, but didn't say anything about it. He placed some of the fabric into the water to let it soak, and brought out some soft cotton to prepare the cast. He just suddenly realised that Loki was wearing some sort of tunic, and not his usual heavy leather was more like a lighter fashioned armour, a black leather tunic with little metal details, and leather sleeves that Bruce thought was definetely not helping the God's pain.

"Loki, we're going to have to get you out of this tunic, so I can put the plaster on properly." Bruce said. Loki looked up at him, panic clear in his eyes, and he moved for the first time than he had in hours.

One minute, Tony barely registered that he was comforting a Norse God, listening as Bruce guided him through his actions, and the next minute, he saw Loki in another part of the workshop, cowering into a corner like a lost dog.

Both Tony and Bruce looked at each other in slight alarm and slowly got up, making sure they didn't rush at the obviously distressed God.

"Loki, it's okay, we didn't mean to scare you. Bruce is just trying to help. I'll get you some of my clothes if that will make you feel better." Tony said hopefully.

Loki slowly looked up, sensing, almost tasting the air for any type of danger. Seeing that Tony and Bruce were genuinely trying to help, Loki relaxed a little, not quite letting his gaurd down, and stood up ridgedly, still holding his extremely painful arm. Tony was the first to move over to him, and Loki tensed, not quite ready to trust anything that had a pulse. Tony paused, seeing Loki's tension, and put his arms up slowly in a non threatening way.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

And Loki almost chocked on a sob. He had said it with such brutal honesty that Loki almost recoiled and threw up. It was like being struck by a snake. _Who would want to help me? Has he suffered from sudden memory loss?_

Seeing Loki's hesitation, Tony stepped forward, an almost pleading look in his eyes.

"How about Bruce goes and gets some clothes for you, and we'll hang around here, sit down on the chair and get comfy, yeah?" Tony said, looking over at Bruce for confirmation. He simply nodded, but he had an ugly frown plastered on his face as he left the workshop.

_Good job Stark, no science projects for you for a while._

So Tony eased forward, encouraging the God to follow him to where his desk sat, the Mark Eight plans sprawled out onto the table. Loki followed, sitting down and slumping slightly. Tony, for once, couldn't say anything, and he felt very lost. He had always hated dealing with anything remotely emotional. That's why he had alcohol.

So the two sat in an awkward silence until Bruce came back in, holding what appeared to be a pair of sweats and a plain green shirt. The three sort of stared at each other, trying to silently figure out how they were going to get Loki into human clothes.

"So, does your armor come in two parts, Loki?" Bruce asked. Loki nodded, fear starting to creep back into his eyes.

"If it will at all help Loki, I am a doctor. I don't think either of us need to get embaressed or worried if I help you with your clothing." Bruce said profesionally.

Loki considered for upwards of two minutes, balancing the options of taking off his tunic which was causing him extreme pain, accepting the help given to him or simply escaping, the flight instinct feeling extremely promising. The latter was not an option, and Loki was used to having magic to dull some of the pain. So he decided to do something he normally never did.

Bruce and Tony waited, and saw as Loki mumbled something under his breath.

"What did you say Loki?" Banner asked, stepping toward him.

"It's in two halves, I will remove the top half... With your help. I guess." He whispered.

Bruce nodded. "I think it's going to cause to much pain and difficulty to take off the tunic, would you mind if I just cut it off?" Bruce asked.

Loki sighed, but nodded, wrapping his uninjured arm around him like some sort of ridiculously tragic self comforting hug.

"Would you like tony to leave?" Bruce asked, grabbing a sharp pair of scissors, but making sure Loki didn't see them.

"Stay."

The single word shocked Tony to the core, and it took all of his will power not to just let his jaw fall open. So he just sat down silently on the chair nearest to Loki and watched as Banner started snipping away, Loki standing statue still, eyes closed.

Whether it was due to experienced hands, razor sharp scissors or the fact that the leather had suffered alot of damage from Loki's fall, Bruce was easily able to cut a straight line up the middle of Loki's back and up one arm. Banner got to the damaged arm.

"I need you to keep still. This will hurt, but it will hurt more if you keep flinching." Banner said. Loki nodded, still not looking up from his spot on the ground. Banner gently pushed the scissors through, slowly cutting through strap by strap. Loki bit down on his lip again, and he suddenly locked his eyes onto Tony.

Tony stopped breathing. He stared into his emerald eyes, brimming with unshed tears and full of fear.

"Okay, i'm going to take it off now." Bruce said. Loki broke his contact with Tony and nodded, getting even tenser if it was even possible. Tony could cut through the tension of the room with a knife. _I swear I can see the tension_.

Bruce slowly started prying off the leather, tugging at the last few stubborn threads. Tony drew in a quick breath and gasped softly.

Loki's torso was a horrifying mix of purple and yellow, especially around his ribs. As Banner passed him the shirt and Loki turned around to put on the shirt with Banners help, angry, red scars made themself known. Tony had to quickly wipe away the tear that threatened to spill.

Banner sat Loki down on the chair and placed his arm gently onto the table, which was already bruising. Loki was now a deathly shade of grey.

Bruce made quick work of the cast, and Loki felt better with the support of the cast. Bruce grabbed a peice of material and started putting knots in it.

"You'll need to wear this sling for a while until you grow used to the weight of the cast." Bruce said, putting Loki's arm through the hole and tying it around his neck to a comfortable height.

The three stayed silent for a minute, not quite what sure what to do. It was now nine in the morning.

Loki eyed the two, trying to see what they were planning to do with him.

"Well, I suppose it's no use being locked up in here by yourself. You'll be safer in one of the floors." Tony said, starting to move around, placing bits of Loki's ruined armour onto the desk.

Loki just watched as Tony moved around, "you can stay on my floor for the moment. I don't think it's a good idea to have you running around the tower at the moment. Jarvis can keep you company while i'm not there." Tony said, trying to look as busy as possible.

"Thankyou." Loki mumbled quietly. Tony stopped and smiled. He was pretty sure Loki had to give up a lot of pride to say that.

"We'll, you can hang around for the moment. You can become one with the 'mortal technology' or whatever it is that will keep you entertained." Tony said, smiling. Loki made no attempt at even smiling. He continued looking down at the floor, looking extremely awkward with his arm in the sling, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Tony looked at Bruce, hoping for some help. But Tony felt ice looking at Bruce. His eyes were cold, arms were crossed and the frown was still etched on his face. _I'll talk to him later, first thing first, make sure Loki isn't going to wreck my tower._

"We'll, I suppose i'd better show you your new home for now." Tony said, holding open the workshop door for Loki.

Loki shuffled forward, looking back to Bruce who gave a small smile. "Thank you, Doctor Banner." Loki whispered. Bruce nodded, giving Tony a look, a look that said _You have a shit load of talking to do_. Tony sighed and led Loki to the elevator, not wanting to turn around and see his inevitable doom. A date with The Hulk's fist was never fun.

They stood in the elevator, neither saying a word to the other, and the silence continued. Tony was releaved when they got to his floor.

"We'll, this is it. If you need any help, Jarvis can help you. And you can borrow whatever till we get you some clothes. This can be your room for the moment..." Tony finished, rubbing his head nervously.

Loki proceeded to go and sit on the bed, curling himself into a tight ball. Tony froze when he saw the face on Loki.

It was one of pure fear. What had happened in the workshop had been enough to scare him into an almost catatonic state. His eyes watered, and the way his eyes shined at Tony's, it broke Tony's heart, and he didn't know why. Kicking a puppy would have made Tony feel better.

"Hey, buddy, you're safe here, I promise you. we'll look after you, I swear. While here, no one will be able to hurt you. I'll make sure of it." Tony said, standing in the door frame. _Why the hell am I helping him, he threw me out a window and alnost killed me again twenty four hours earlier. God dam, the dreams from earlier..._ Tony shuddered.

Loki didn't reply, and Tony turned to leave, the emotion that was thick in the atmosphere to much for him to handle.

"Stark?" He heard Loki call. Brown eyes met green.

"Yeah?"

Loki seemed to contemplate for a second, before looking at him again.

"Why do you care?" Was all he asked. Tony stood there, trying to think of any reason, any excuse, but nothing came, and that scared Tony senseless.

"I don't know." He answered. Loki nodded, eyes falling again. Tony thought for a minute, several question in his mind. _How the hell did your arm break from a dream? Who's Thanos? How the hell did you get to my balcony of all places?_

"Are you scared that I do?" Tony questioned back.

"I don't know." Loki said, but more to himself rather than an actual reply.

Tony nodded, "Do whatever you want, if you need me, tell Jarvis, and don't leave this level, okay? I don't think you'll go well defending yourself with that arem"

Loki nodded and Tony turned away, heading to the elevator and collapsing into the corner as soon as he got in.

Loki began crying, silent but racking sobs as soon as he heard Stark getting on the lift. Loki knew he was once again hunted, and he's dreams were no longer safe. His arm was now a reminder of how weak he was against them, how weak he was without his magic. And he hadn't even began to endure anything yet.

He knew of the tortures that The Other could concoct, he'd done it before. But Him, He was another matter. Loki had only seen him twice. First when he crashed into the barren wasteland, and the other time when he was almost at the point of madness. But He was not one for dissapointment, and betrayel

_You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain._

It would only be a matter of time till Thanos found Loki, and until then, he would be hurt and hurt again. The Allfathe had told him he would be able to use his magic if his life was in danger. Odin had yet again lied to him. Loki was defenseless, stuck on a mortal world that would crumble if it came up against this particular foe.

Loki could only wait in fear as his inevitable doom approached, and he was never going to be ready to face it, no matter what kind of convincing statements he told himself.

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**Review Responses**

**cara-tanaka **Your reviews, they do keep me going. Thank you so much!

**SparklyGlitter **Thank you, so, so much! I'm glad your enjoying it, and I hope you enjoyed this present as well :D

**Plot guys, plots slowly forming. And the Frostiron's coming. And the chapters are getting slightly longer, hope that will start making up for my less frequent updates. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stark Cookies for all!**

**Clint: Do I get one?**

**Me: Did you review?**

**Clint: ...**

**Me: That's what I thought *Runs with cookies***

**Clint: I WANT ONE! *runs***


	6. Who said the Devil didn't exist?

**AN: Chapter five everyone! Sorry for such a late and update I will try and update now every Monday (Australian time.) Keep up your amazing responses, I love you all!**

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: **

**Man: I need you to sign this contract**

**Me: Is it the contract to own The Avengers?**

**Man: ... No. **_**Just sign the damn contract... SO I CAN OWN YOUR SOUL!**_

**Me: I heard that...**

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**Who said the Devil didn't exist?**

Tony took a deep breath as he stepped off and out of the elevator, seeing that Bruce was still in the workshop. "So, ah, what do you say we work on that scanner of yours?" Tony started hopefully. Bruce just frowned at him.

"Well, what did you expect me to do? I couldn't just leave him on the balcony!" Tony said in exaspiration. Bruce raised a single eyebrow.

"I couldn't. Not really. Damn it that still needs to fixed! Jarvis, get someone on that, will you?" Tony snapped at his AI.

"Of course sir." Jarvis replied nonchalantely. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Tony, you need to understand! We have a war criminal in the tower. One, that I will remind you, almost destroyed the entirety of New York and tried to enslave the human race, less than half a year ago." Bruce replied, crossing his arms and taking long, deep breaths.

"Not the first time thats happened." Tony grumbled. Bruce narrowed his eyes a little.

"All that i'm saying is that something smells fishy about this. Is there nothing that is screaming out trouble to you?" Bruce said, looking at Tony.

Tony sighed, "Of course there's something a little weird. Its not everyday that your local manic Norse God comes falling out of the sky."

"Not to mention that he conviniently landed on the balcony of Avengers tower. Now if that doesn't scream out something that will translate to trouble, I don't know what does." Bruce added on.

"Banner, please. Look at the oppurtunity we have have been given. How many poeple can say they've studied an Aesir, cause i'm sure not a lot can." Tony pleaded his case.

"Tony. I don't trust the guy. Not as far as the Other Guy can throw him. And this, what was it, Thanos? Yeah, well if Loki fears him so much, what's to say that Loki's presense doesn't attract him? We have no idea what it is we're dealing with." Bruce through on. Tony noticed the odd temperature change, but decided to ignore it for the time.

"So what do we do? Throw him out to the streets? Put a flashing neon sign on him screaming out 'i'm here?' You saw the footage Banner! What ever happenerd, that was really creepy. I can sure as hell can bet that you've never seen anything like it either, cause I can say _I_ haven't." Tony said, exasperated. Why the hell was he defending _Loki_?

"Look, i'll just say it straight out." Bruce began, "I don't want him in the tower, Tony. He's too dangerous. And if his alien friends are going to come looking for him, they'll start with his last known location, which is here." Bruce admitted, turning around to look at the last frame of the security footage that was still frozen on the screen, "And besides, even if I were to agree? I'm certain most of the others won't. Especially Clint and Natasha. In fact, they would hunt him down and kill him faster than you could blink and use him as their next rug. And Loki is defenseless now. Do we even know if Thor knows he's here? How di he end up here? It's to much of a risk, and it could split the team in two. And if we are preparing for a new immanent threat, we can't afford to be fighting among ourselves. Because you saw as much as I did what happened the last time we didn't work well as a team, and if it comes to it, we will be facing an enemy that will not just sit down and let us set aside our differences and shake hands."

Tony tried to reach for the reply, but as much as he tried to think of an excuse, he couldn't find one. Bruce was right, and Tony hated it when he was right, because it was often for a very good reasong, no matter how badly Tony wanted something else out of it. _But what do I want out of it?_ "Fine, but we need to keep him in observing distance. We can't let him go about running around New York off a leash. How about I set him up with an apartment or something? Set up another Jarvis in there. Make sure we record everything." Tony said, compromising with the doctor.

Bruce stared long and hard at Tony, before sighing and at least glad Tony was compromising for once rather than figuring things out his own way, and besides... "I suppose. Why do you care Tony? He's _Loki_, the guy who threw you out a window?"

Tony thought for a while, growing uneasy at the hawk like stare Bruce was giving him, trying to see what Tony was up to, "I guess it's stupid, but I see a bit of me in him. This morning, what I saw? if it hadn't ended in him or something else snapping his arm like a twig, I would've thought he was having flashbacks, or something. I don't know. Something like that, I suppose." tony stammered out, trying to hide his flushing cheeks.

Bruce nodded slowly, turning around to look over at something. If he noticed the very obvious embarresment on Tony, he didn't comment further on it, "Well, what should we do for now? I can start looking for something with Jarvis, if you tell Loki his moving out?" Bruce mumbled, not really wanting to give the God the news himself.

Tony huffed, "Of course, give me the hard job."

Bruce had to smirk a little, "Well, you're the one that dragged him in from the balcony and down here in the first place."

"Fine, if we're going to play that game." Tony grumbled, walking out of his workshop ignoring the still smirking Bruce.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki sat on the bed, arms wrapped around his knees, looking at every detail in the room, as if waiting for the walls to jump out at him. He awkwardly curled into himself; the plaster was in the way. He was still in his leather trousers and combat boots, but was wearing the mortal clothing on his top half. He had gotten the annoying sling off, however. But he was glad for the plaster, a little bit, he even had to admit that to himself. The coolness numbed some of the pain and now everytime he moved, he didn't get the painful throb as the plaster held everything steady.

Tony walked down the hall, and into the same room, figuring that Loki wouldn't have moved anyway, and he was right.

Loki's head snapped towards the door, seeing Tony standing there, looking awkward. Loki had to force himself from rolling his eyes as the mortal gawked at him, "What do you want Stark?" Loki snapped, patience wearing thin in his unsure state.

Tony thought about what he was going to say. "Well, we figured that you would probably want your own place, away from the tower and, well, The Avengers. Besides, i'm sure you don't want us in your face every five minutes." Tony blabbered out. Loki took his eyes away from Tony, a feeling of dread and rejection running through him. But nothing showed on his face.

"You don't want me here. That is completely understandable." Loki said, getting off his spot on the bed and wincing slighlty at the stiffness he felt. _How long have I been sitting like this?_.

"No, no, no, that isn't it at all! Well, I want you here, and Bruce wants you here. And i'm pretty sure if we try hard enough, stars 'n' stripes will welcome you. But the master assassins? Well, they tend to hold grudges." Tony finished, trying to show Loki that... _What was he trying to show Loki?_

"Again, completely understandable. But why you and the Doctor would want me around for I am not sure. I shall move on. Thank you for your hospitality." Loki said, going to walk out of the room before Tony's hand shot around his. Loki froze on the spot.

"Didn't you here what I said before? We'll set you up with a home. A nice little apartment in New York, Yeah?" And i'll install Jarvis over there as well so he can keep you company. Also, we'll make sure to have you fully stocked so you don't have to go into the city. I know there's still a few interested parties wondering about your punishment... Not that it matters! But anyway..." Tony rambled

"Stark?" Loki said sharply, glaring a hole through the wall he was staring at, clenching his plastered hand almost cracking the mold.

"Yes?" Stark said, finally closing his mouth.

"Let. Go." Loki said through clenched teeth.

Tony looked down and saw that he was still holding Loki's wrist. "Oh, crap! Sorry, I just, uh... Forgot! Yeah um, yeah." Tony finished awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck trying to hide the red that now lightly spread on his cheeks.

The two stood for a few silent moments, tension building in the air as Loki continued to breathe deeply through his nose and control his slightly shaking hand. It was Stark, of course, who broke the silence.

"Well. How 'bout we all go find you a nice spot to live, yeah? This place is probably getting boring to you anyway." Tony finished, walking towards the elevator. Loki glared at the mortal, before following his footsteps.

Tony and Loki came into the workshop, and Bruce felt the tension following them. He frowned when he saw that Loki had taken off the sling. _I tried_ was all Banner thought. He looked at Loki whose steel like gaze turned to him, almost as if he had heard Bruce's thought. Bruce quickly averted his eyes from the God and looked at the screen which now had the pictures of several little apartments displayed.

Tony looked over at Loki who was looking at Bruce with a hard glare. _So much for appreciation_. "So, reindeer games, anything tickle your fancy?" Tony started.

Loki raised a singly eyebrow and made no attempt to hide the boredom out of his reply. "Whatever you mortals deem 'acceptable' will do me fine. The living standards on Midgard don't even compare to that of Asgard." Loki tried to hide the feeling of loss in his voice. He did miss his chambers in Asgard. They were designed to his taste, and all of his texts were probably starting to gather dust from lack of use.

Bruce pinched his nose in annoyance and Tony just shrugged, looking up at the ones available. "Okay, we'll that one looks good. One bedroom, Two small bathrooms, kitchen, living room, and a small study, plus an entry hall. Hell, it even comes with your own little balcony that you can crash into, overlooking Central Park." Tony said, nodding in approval at the modern furnishings. It would be easy enough to install Jarvis and a security feed.

"Fine." was all Loki said. The three stood, Tony shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Well, I can pull a few strings and get you into this by tonight, set you up with some furniture and everything you need. Just... Wait in the workshop with Bruce till I get things organised. Play nice you two! Don't want my tower trashed, i'll be back in a few hours." Tony said hurridly whilst leaving the workshop, leaving no room for the two to protest.

Bruce glared at the door before looking over at Loki, who looked like he was attempting to set the floor on fire with his glare. Bruce figured he was close to achieving it.

"Do you mind if I just do my work? You can just watch, I suppose." Bruce said slowly. Loki continued staring at the floor, thinking things over.

"Okay." Bruce concluded, working on his scanner, but not able to concentrate as he would.

And so they continued what they were doing. Bruce working and Loki staring at the floor, until finally after the most intense three and a half hours of Bruce's life, Tony finally came into the workshop, jingling a pair of keys.

"All done reindeer games, all you have to do is walk in!" Tony said with a bit too much enthusiasm. Loki scowled.

"I'll take you there, of course. No need to worry about dodging New Yorks finest." Tony said walking up to Loki. Loki just nodded his head.

Tony looked to Bruce, who just shrugged, "Well, best we get going, you'll want some time to settle in. See ya later Bruce."

Bruce put on a smile, "Okay Tony. Bye Loki, enjoy your new home."

Loki gave a nod towards Banner, "Thank you for your hospitality." He grumbled, turning towards the direction of the door and following Tony. When Bruce saw the elevator door close, he finally let out a sigh of relief and dropped his head onto the metal desk with a resounding clang.

After some well placed actions, incredible luck and not a single exchange of words, Tony had managed to get Loki into the apartment without drawing any attention to themselves. And so it was that Tony put the keys into Loki's new apartment and opened the door for him, ushering him through.

Loki looked arouund. Even though he will never admit it, he liked the place. It was small and cozy. Nice whites and creams highlighted the walls and brightened up the rooms. There was new furnishing that Tony picked out for him ,which was a mix of deep chocolate colours and black.

"So? What you think of the place?" Said Tony, with what looked like hope in his eyes.

Loki paused, considering whether or not to hurt the humans feelings or not. _Why am I even considerin not hurting his feelings, _"It will do, Stark." Loki said, analysing the room he was standing in.

Tony deflated a little, "Well, I suppose i'll leave you at it. Jarvis is installed here, so anything you need, just ask him. You can always come over to the tower. Just let me know and i'll figure out a way of distracting the local mob." Tony said, standing there.

Tony hesitated a little, before sighing and heading towards the door.

"Stark?" Tony paused and turned around, seeing Loki looking straight at him

"Thank you." He said with the tiniest smile on his face. Tony smiled back at him, feeling happier than he had in a while.

"Have fun." Tony said as he walked out the door. Loki was left to his own devices and figured it was time to get to know the realm he was stuck on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony got back to the tower, the good feeling he had passing a while ago. There was still something that was bothering him, and he wanted to go over the security footage that was still up. Tony got on the elevator and went down to the workshop, and silently thanked whatever diety was listening that Bruce had left. He wanted to do this without company.

He sat on a chair and put a hand through his hair, rubbing his eyes before starting.

"Okay Jarvis, can you go back to the start of the whole tape?" Tony said, looking at the screen.

"Of course sir, with sound?" Jarivs enquired.

"Yeah." He replied.

Tony looked at the screen, seeing as he walked into the workshop and worked on the Mark eight, and then realise that Loki was there. Tony watched as he walked over to the glass container that held a sleeping Loki.

He looked on as he watched his past self ask about Thanos, and noticed as the footage skipped the smallest bit.

"Pause and rewind Jarvis, then play at half speed." Tony said, standing up and walking over closer to the screen

Again, the image flickered, but there was something there. Tony saw the displacement of everything else in the room, and it almost looked as if the footage had warped around some obscure object.

"Again, rewind, half the speed again." Tony looked closely at where the phenomenon was occuring. As Tony watched the slowed down image, he noticed as something flashed towards his past selfs shoulder.

"Okay, half the speed one more time, and pause it exactly when the warping of the image occurs, and put on subtitles." Tony said, a sense of dread starting to form.

And so Jarivs slowed the footage down and paused it exactly when the warping occured. Tony felt as his heart turned to ice.

There, exactly where the subtitles read 'Who the Hell is Thanos?' and a warped image occured around his body, Tony could see the visible outline of a huge, discoloured hand grasping at his shoulder.

Tony gulped, looking at the image before texting Bruce telling him to get the hell into his lab.

"What's happened now, Tony?" Bruce said a little exasperated. All Tony could do was look at the paused footage.

"Have you ever seen an anomoly like this when you say someones name?" Tony asked as he stared at the hand that was on his shoulder. Bruce walked up to the screen, polishing his glasses and putting them back on before looking more closely at the image. Tony looked at Bruce, who looked uncertain.

"Jarvis, go forward in the tape about twenty seconds, and stop the tape with the subtitles again." Tony said

Tony and Bruce now watched as the subtitles 'Any records on this Thanos guy?' appeared, except half the footage was darkened, as if a shadow had passed infront of the camera at that exact same moment. Tony shuddered.

"What the hell is going on around here?" Tony said, pushing a stressed hand through his hair.

"I don't know, but this is what I was worried about Tony, now we have this going on and..."

"Thanos." Tony said loud and clear. Bruce paused and tensed, feeling the rapid drop in temperature.

"Jarvis, security playback of just then, you know what to look for." Tony said. Jarvis did just that, and Tony had immediate regrets.

Bruce and Tony couldn't say anything for several minutes, for the image that was there shocked them into silence. Tony shivered and turned, not able to help but look around his workshop carefully.

"Jarvis, I wan't security feeds up and camera sounds and alarms on twenty four seven. No one comes in or out till we make sure this buildings clear." Tony said, watching as several camera feeds came up. The only other person in the building was Steve.

Bruce and Tony let out the breath they were holding.

"Okay, Jarvis, we're clear. Make sure the securities updated. I don't want this place unchecked and scanned for more than a minute. And make sure it's the same with Loki's. Anything odd, I want to be alerted straight away." Tony said, collapsing in the nearest chair. _I really need a damn drink._

"So, what do we do now? We don't know what were dealing with, we have a known planetery criminal in the heart of New York, terrified of said unknown force. And we just saw what happened." Bruce said, frowning at Tony and quickly looking over the back of his shoulder to check everything was clear. _Don't freak out, it was just an illusion. No need to destroy half the block for an illusion._

"Don't look at me!" Tony said, putting his hands up.

"Well, you are the one that decided saying... Well, that, was a fantastic idea!" Bruce said, letting out a shaky breath and pinching the bridge of his nose, "Let's just assume it was an illusion. There's nothing else here, and I don't see anything spitting fireballs at New York yet." Bruce compromised.

Tony nodded, for once, in agreement, "Suppose so. I'd just sleep easier if I knew big purple wasn't wondering around looking like that down the middle of the city. He'd probably have a hell of a parade following him." Tony said, daring to look back at the footage. _That does confirm one thing though..._

"I suppose that also cover something everyone fought about." Tony started.

"And what's that?" Bruce enquired.

"Well, i've never been religious, but who said the Devil didn't exist?"

Tony finished his statment, looking towards the screen that was looping the original footage. On the screen, Tony saw as he said the name. A crackling on the screen occured, and Tony watched as nightmare played out in real life.

A tall purple being, grinning like the cheshire cat, walked across the screen and went through a wall, all the while looking straight at the camera.

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**Read and Review, and there shall be no creepy, grinning things walking through your wall as you read this.**

***Feels tap on shoulder***

**Me: *Makes very inhuman sound and runs like a banshee***

**Loki: Eheheheheh...**


	7. A Guide to calming a psychotic God

**AN: Welcome to Chapter six everyone! Sorry it's a few hours behind schedule. I love it when I open my inbox and I see all the responses I have gotten from each and everyone of you, my reviewers and followers/favourites. I had tears in my eyes :,) I love you all! Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Warnings: A little touch of frost, but will it last? Also, some torture and gore and explicit langauge. Plus plot!**

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: **

**Me: **I...

**Natasha: **Don't start... *Pulls out gun*

**Me: ***Grumbles* Fine, I don't own it anyway...

**And Loki was having such a peaceful sleep until he heard screaming and gunshots coming from down the hall.**

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**A Guide to calming a psychotic God By Tony Stark**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been three days. Three days since a God had crashed into his balcony. Three days since said God dreamt and had his arm shattered before Tony's eyes. Three days since big purple walked through the wall, grinning. Three days since Tony had become the most paranoid human in the entire world.

He didn't sleep. He didn't talk. He didn't eat. He didn't stop flinching everytime someone said a single god damn word. Bruce was on the same boat. Tony watched as Bruce's usually calm persona turned into an anxious wreck, almost hulking out for the simplest reasons. A sudden bang, a noise made too close to him. Anything that caused his pulse to increase. And it sure as hell didn't go unnoticed.

Natasha and Clint picked it up almost immediately, of course. They both interigated Bruce and Tony, and without receiving any truthful or useful answers, gave up with the questions and let them be, pushing it off for recurring nightmares. The two assassins had, after all, felt their fair share of re-living horrors.

Steve, on the other hand, wouldn't stop being the mother hen.

"Hey Tony." Steve started quietly.

Tony, of course, almost fell out of his chair on the couch, not hearing the super soldiers approach, and placed a hand against his frehead, trying to calm down. _It's Steve, it's only Steve._

"Hey, what's up." Tony said after getting his pulse down to a respectable level.

"You haven't done _anything_ for the last three days." Steve started.

"I have been breathing and blinking." Tony deadpanned. Steve sighed at this.

"I get neither you or Bruce are going to say what happened, but at least Bruce is... Functioning!" Steve finished, exasperated. Tony raised an eyebrow

"I'm functioning perfectly fine."

"At least eat something, i'd be happy if you even had a cup coffee!"

Tony went quiet and considered Steve's proposition. _I've gone without coffee for three days?_

"Jarvis, put on the coffee, yeah?" Tony said, standing up and heading to the kitchen. Steve rolled his eyes.

"Tony, I was hoping really for something more substantial. I was using coffee as an example!"

"Well, I have stuff to do today, anyway." Tony said, grabbing a polyester cup and lid, "Thanks for the reminder, Cap! Can't believe I haven't had coffee for this long. Got to go though, stuff to do, bye!" Tony said as he practically ran to the elevator, leaving a dumbfounded Steve in the entrance of the kitchen. _Is that just what happened?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He sat, huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

_You bought this on yourself!_

_No, I ran. I came here, and I knew he wouldn't find me. It's not real._

A flash of purple, a deep laugh. Loki hurled the glass across the room, watching it smash into the wall. Another resounding laugh echoed through the walls. Back and forth, back and forth.

_He can't have found me. It isn't possible!_

_Oh, but it is little Jotun! Of course he waould find you._

Agonising pain. A shriek of frustration and fear. A purple hand, right on his shoulder...

Loki jumped up from his spot and everything stopped. The voices, the pain, _him._ He went away.

Loki sat down in the corner again, back and forth, back and forth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony finished off his coffee as he got to Loki's apartment. It was time to get some answers, and he would force them out of Loki if he had to. Tony wanted to know what the hell was going on.

He stormed up the stairs and on knocked on Loki's door. When no answer came, he knocked again, this time louder.

"It's Tony! You gonna let me in? Or am I standing out here all day." Tony waited. Just as he was about to sigh and open the door himself, the knob turned and the door opened a fraction. That's when Tony had to duck his head to narrowly avoiding the glass that was thrown at his head as he walked through the entrance and into the living room.

"What the fuck?" He half yelled in shock, looking at the glass that now lay shattered on the floor in a million peices. He then heard the whimper behing him and slowly turned.

Loki sat in the corner, looking more like a frightened animal rather than a person. He had dark circles under his eyes and those eyes were flickering from place to place, always looking for soemthing and never stoping at one place for more than two seconds. He was still wearing the same clothes and plaster, but there was dried up blood on the plaster. Tony froze, seeing the pure _fear_ in him, and that fear in Loki's eyees is what eventually brought him out of the initial shock of almost getting his head knocked off.

"Loki?" He whispered, taking a careful step forward, making sure not to stand on the glass incase it frightened him.

Loki watched for a long time, and when he didn't see it, he finally just let his knees buckle and fell to the floor, curling in on himself, and continued rocking back and forth.

Tony couldn't say anything, do anything. He felt like he was stuck in a loop, only a simple variable as time continued to repeat itself.

And so there was a stand still for quite a time, that was until Tony heard Loki made the most inhuman sound and Tony felt as the air around him went cold.

"Don't move." Was all Loki said. Tony couldn't, even if he wanted to, he was to scared to be worry about moving.

And then Loki proceeded to throw a glass as him, and ducked as it went crashing past him

"Okay, what the hell! You can't just thorw glasses at people!" Tony shouted at the shrinking God. Tony immediately felt bad, "What happened here Loki? What the hell happened to you?" Tony said, walking to stand in front of the God. Loki looked like he wanted to blend in with the wall. Then vanish into said wall.

Loki couldn't speak, couldn't think. He was paralysed. His fear and pure hatred toward himself and everything else had immobilised him. And now it was a human that brought him the comfort that he so desired. It didn't make any sense to Loki.

"Why?"

Tony raised an eyebrow and looked at said God.

"Why what?" Tony asked hesitantely.

"Why? Why are you doing this? I have brought you nothing but pain, misery and defiance. I have tried killing your entire species. Why are yo trying to comfort, let alone help me?" Loki asked desperately, looking for answers within those deep brown eyes.

"I don't actually know." Tony whispered, looking back into the emerald ones that shone with confusion, pain, sorrow; So many emotions flashed through Loki's eyes that it almost made Tony feel sick. He hated this. Tony hated this. He didn't do emotions, he didn't comfort, he didn't please, he didn't care. Why the sudden change? Why was he now suddenly a caring person? Towards Loki of all people.

Loki just looked away, still rocking back and forth slightly.

"What happened here, Loki? Really." Tony asked seriously, stepping forward and sitting down next to the God.

Loki just shook his head back and forth, as if trying to deny the accusations. He scanned the room again, the always constant threat making him tense in his position and stop his rocking motion.

Tony placed a gentle hand on Loki. Not for any higher purpose, not for any logical questioning. No, it was just a simple gesture of comfort, one that Tony didn't quite understand the reason behind.

The God tensed as the hand came onto his shoulder again, but the company of another silenced his troubles, and he began to relax under the touch. Tony and Loki sat there, and Tony felt as the God began to relax, his breathing easing as he drifted off into another uneasy sleep where his captor oh his subconcious mind waited for his prisoner.

And so Tony did the only thing he could in that situation. He wrapped his hands around Loki and huddled close to him, offering the only comfort he could.

_What have I done?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IN A BARREN WORLD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Other stood on the edge of the slope, gazing out into the cold and dark that he had called home for many a year.

Things were going as planned, and his masters actions were moving along faster than he thought they would have otherwise. _But they were dealing with that miserable creature_ The Other thought darkly as he saw masses of Chitauri marching in formation.

The Other heard as footstep approached from beyond, and turnerd around, kneeling as he saw Thanos emerge from the break.

"Master," The Other said, head down lowly in submission, "Your army continues to grow everyday. The Chitauri have been re-bred. They will stand no trouble facing the meager might of Earth." He said with malice in his voice.

"Good. You have served me well, unlike some others." Thanos said dangerously, looking to the cage where they had imprisoned the Jotuns subconcious.

"They will be ready to march within cycles. They await your command, my lord."

"Yes, we shall have revenge on Earth before we march to Asgard. I would destroy those petty soldiers for not obeying to the Overmaster."

"What is your command, master?"

"You will accompany the army that is to march towards Earth. But before then, I would have you seek out and observe these... Avengers. They hold my dear pet, and I would see to it that I see there weakness. They have misunderstood the power of a name, and I am building a physical link between here and that rock." Thanos spat, looking as a leviathon skulked by, roaring a little as it passed.

"And if I am to find anything of interest?"

"You shall report to me. I will find their weaknesses and tear them apart from the inside."

"And what of the Asgardian?" The Other stated, looking to the cage.

"Every movement of his is to be reported. I will have my little pet back, for sure. But I would strike his mind hard and first. I have already begun to torment him through the physical link. A shame I can not physically touch him, but his fear drives the connection to be stronger." Thanos finished, a dark ball of energy flashing in his palm before dissapearing.

"What if they discover me before the time of your reveal?"

Thanos turned around and gripped his subordinate tightly around his neck.

"Would you disobey me?"

"No... Master." The Other chocked out, his six fingers reflexively gripping at the offending wrist.

"Would you dare question my orders."

"Of... Course not... Overmaster."

Thanos let go and watched unblinkingly as The Other ungraciously was dropped to the floor.

"Then, you will not be seen before my reveal." Thanos stated matter - of - factly, looking out beyond as thousands upon thousands of Chitauri continued their march into their ranks. The Other stood up quietly, before seeing as the body in the prison became concious.

"It would seem that our prisoner has fallen asleep, master."

Thanos turned and grinned as Loki's subconcious form was roused active as his physical body collapsed from exhaustion. He walked slowly over to the cage.

"Hello again my little Jotun. I was starting to believe you would never sleep from your living nightmare." Thanos started, placing a prurple hand onto the bar. He cackled darkly when he saw the God visibly flinch from his close proximity. The Other went to stand by Thanos's right shoulder as he watched on.

Thanos hissed into the wilderness, and watched as three Chitauri walked up, sharp spears in hand.

"Secure him." He spoke, watching as the three barged into the cell. Loki's physical body may heal, but his subconcious one couldn't. But the injuries inflicted on his subconcious would effect his physical body.

"I want to play a little game, Loki. I like to call it yes, or no." Thanos grinned at the panicking God, who was trying to force himself free of the Chitauri, but couldn't budge in his weakened state.

"The rules are simple. I give you a yes or no question. Rather simple, if you play along. But for every false answer, I feed you this." He pulled out a vile container of dull blue liquid.

"The venom of the Leviathan is very potent. Even in small dosses," Thanos poured a little onto Loki's hand, and he howled as it burnt through the skin like a hot knife through butter, "It is very potent. Dissolves living tissues, and in large dosses leads to death. But where is the fun in that?" Thanos said, grinning as he stepped forward.

"The questions will start easy. First question. Is your name Loki Laufeyson?"

"Yes."

Thanos grabbed Loki's jaw roughly, forcing it open, "Yes, what?"

"Yes master, yes master!" Loki said, trying to pull his head away.

"Good." Thanos said, patting Loki's black hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony slowly came out of his sleep, muttering as he felt shuddering next to him. Tony curled over slightly and held on to the what was next to him tighter, muttering about being to early. Then his eyes snapped open and he scuttered away from Loki, babbling in shock. That was until he noticed Loki was asleep. And convulsing on the floor, soundlessly groaning in pain.

_Oh Shit._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you release the Frost Giants into Asgard on the day of Thor's coronation?"

"Yes master." Loki whispered, shame running through him.

Thanos grinned, "Does Odin Allfather love you Loki Laufeyson?"

"No." Loki spat. Thanos stopped and turned, smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"Wrong answer." He said, clamping Loki's mouth open and pouring the vile down his throat. Thanos let go and watched as the God tried to scream, but the vocal cords had been ruined from the venom.

"Oh dear, how to play our game... Now, shake your head to answer, my little pet. Tell me, is this agony?" Loki shook his head furiously from side to side.

"That is right, my little Jotun. This isn't agony. No, you know as well as I do that this is only the beginning of something greater. But as a gift for that thruthful honesty, I will give you your words back..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony watched as the God convulsed in his sleep, not quite sure what to do. He had his mouth open, like he was screaming, but couldn't produce a sound. One sudden moment, Loki stilled, and Tony thought he was waking again, unti the ear splitting scream escaped his lips, blood gargling out of his mouth.

"Shit, shit shit shit." Tony ran to Loki.

"Come on, you have to wake up, come on Loki don't do this on me..."

_don't do this on me._

Loki lurched his eyes open, the scream cutting short, but the gargling continued as he pushed himself forward, wrenching up the blood, bile and a mixture of blue onto the new carpet.

He coughed violently as more blood came out. Loki felt himself tipping to the side as he lost more blood and felt dizzy. Tony rushed forward and grabbed him.

"Come on Loki, don't go black on me." Tony muttered as he dragged the exhausted God from the mess through the glass shards that still littered the floor.

He got Loki to the bathroom, who was on the verge of passing out, but luckily had stopped throwing up the blood. He was now just gasping for air, and even though he was a Frost Giant, he still felt extremely cold.

Tony came in with a bucket full of soapy warm water, a bottle of cold water for Loki to gargle with and a set of fresh clothes, along with some medical scissors, clamp and fresh bandages and cotton to redo the plaster.

"I don't want any arguments, I will help you get washed up, and I will fix your plaster again." Loki just nodded as he silently stood up and shackily took off his shirt, discarding it into the bathtub. And so Tony began washing down the God, trying to ignore exactly what he was doing, and convincing himself the little sighs Loki was making weren't because Tony was helping.

He cut off the old plaster and set a new one. Even though it wasn't as good as Banners, it was still a good job, and would be suitable for the next few days. Already Tony could see the arm was getting better; most of the swelling and bruising was gone, and Loki wasn't flinching and hissing everytime he accidentely knocked his arm lightly.

"Well, i'll leave you to change your clothes..." Tony said awkwardly, leaving the bathroom and going to clean up the mess. He vaccumed the glass up and cleaned up the mess on the carpet, placing a towel over it till he got someone to replace it so there wouldn't be a stain there permanently. Whatever the blue stuff was, it wasn't coming out.

Tony had to avoid taking in a sharper breath of air as Loki wondered out of the bathroom in stripped pajamas. _He looks... Human_ Tony thought.

"Are you going to gawk at me all night Stark?" Loki said in a croaky voice, whatever the case of his vomiting, it had damaged his vocal cords.

Tony flushed a little and broke the eye contact, "I don't know what you're talking about, i'm not staring." Tony mumbled.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night..." Loki said, growing sad about the last part of his statement, "I'm tired, but..." Loki said, eyes shining.

"I think I have an idea." Tony said, smiling leading Loki to his room.

"Jarvis, keep an eye on Loki's brainwaves." Tony started, placing a small gadget on Loki's finger.

"Stark?" Loki questioned, looking at Tony.

"Jarivs will keep an eye on your brain waves. As soon as they reach a state in which dreams occur, it will send a small shock through your body. Not enough to wake, but it will stop you from dreaming. You may not wake up feeling the greatest, but it does mean some form of sleep, without waking up half dead everytime." Tony finished.

"Thank you." Loki said quietely, emotion running through his tired eyes as he got into the bed.

"Well, I suppose I should..."

"Please stay." Loki mumbled. Tony shrugged and got into the bed and got under the covers.

"Hm, might just... Chill for a couple of hours..." Tony said, eyes closing and falling into a quiet slumber.

Loki waited until Tony's breathing evened out and listened, like it was his own personal lullaby. "Thank you, Tony." Loki said tiredly, shuffling ever so slightly across to the body next to him and sleeping without fear for the first time in years.

_Master, I have something interesting to report. It appears your pet would start a new relation with a Midgardian. One that happens to be an Avenger._

Thanos paused and grinned.

_Soon._

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**Review Responses**

**cara-tanaka **Thankyou again for the review :) Sorry for the later update

**Blackoil **Thankyou, I'm glad you are enjoying it!

**kitkatthevampirelover92 **Haha, no worries, glad you're enjoying it :)

**fan girl 666 **Thankyou so much! I love your Fics as well and it really means alot to me that you're enjoying this :D

**shippingdeath ** Thank you so much for the review :)

**D (Guest) **Aw, thank you! Sorry for the wait, and I hope this chapter impresses!

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**AN: Sorry for the later update. Some personal things came up and I didn't really get a chance to sit down and write. Any way, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Read and review, and Tony Stark will comfort you in bed.**

**Tony: I don't 'comfort' in bed...**

**Me: Oh, yes you will *Pulls out remote***

**Tony: *Raises eyebrow* And what does that do**

**Me: *Presses and listens to the satisfying sound of an explosion***

**Tony: My Bar! *Sobbing***

**Me: *Running like a mofo* **


	8. The Morning after? But my pants are on

**AN: Welcome to chapter seven everyone! We're finally starting to get into the knitty gritty bits of plot and story. I decided as a treat to post another chapter today because I have been getting such amazing responses, and I wanted to reward you all with an extra chapter this week, on top of me regular weekly update. If the response continues to grow like this, I may start posting two chapters a week more often. Your reviews and favourites and follows? They are all inspiration for me to write faster so I can please all of you. I know it's cheesy, but I honestly get a little squeal of joy everytime I get a review notification or I see someone new is following the story, or they love it so much that it is one of their favourites. But enough of my sentiments, I will get on with what you all really came here for, happy reading!**

**Warnings: Explicit language. Not all things can go smoothly.**

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: **

**Me: Mjolnir, Mjolfaaaaar, Mjolweheveeeeerrr yyoooouuu arrrrreeeee!**

**Loki: You still won't own it.**

**Me: *Frowns***

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**The Morning after? But my pants are on...**

The sun came through the window, highlighting the outlines of the cream painted bedroom. Two figures lay in the bed; one who had one arm splayed and hanging off the matress, the other hand laying across the other figure. He was snoring slightly. The other figure had curled into a small ball, despite being quite tall. He was nestled into the other body as close as possible, his chin resting on the shoulder. Tony opened his eyes, feeling awake, content and warm. He looked around the room, realising he was in another house, and smiled as he looked over to the figure beside him who had opened his emerald eyes and was staring into his chocolate.

It was a beautiful morning in Central Park, the Sun was shining, the children were playing. A woman jogged past another, nodding her head as the other passed. The birds were content chirping as they taught lessons to their own young ones...

"_STARK!"_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony promptly fell out of the bed, his chocolate brown eyes bulging out of his head. _What the fuck? My pants are still on, what... Oh, OH._

"Calm down Reindeer games, no need to get your panties in a twist." Tony mumbled, rubbing at the definite bump that was forming on the side of his head from his small but hard fall.

"What do you think you were doing?" Loki questioned in bewilderment, hands pushing the covers from him as he got out of the bed.

"What am I doing? You're the one who was... All curled up into me like some god damn teenager!" Tony snapped back, standing up and wincing as his bones cracked in protest.

"Stark..." Loki said dangerously, glaring at the other man.

"Hey, who was the one who took care of you last night and let you sleep? Me." Tony said, regretting it as the words came out.

Loki narrowed his eyes futher. They both stood there, stuck at even ground while one tried desperately to get the moral high ground. It didn't work.

"It's too early for this crap." Tony mumbled, making his was to the kitchen. Loki silently followed, arms still crossed and burning a hole in the ground as he walked along from his glare.

Tony went straight to the coffee machine he had bought for Loki and realised that it was still untouched. Tony hugged it.

"Don't worry, I'll use you." Tony said to the shiny metal.

"Stark, I would say I question your sanity, but I realised you were insane a long time ago." Loki watched as the other man continued holding the machine.

"Jarvis, can you put that on for me?"

"Certainly sir." Jarvis replied, the coffee machine whirring to life.

Tony turned around to glare at the Asgardian.

"You know, I would say you're a bastard. And you are, you have to be the most ungrateful son of a bitch that I know." Tony snapped.

"And what would you have me do Stark, kill you in your sleep? I could have done that very easily."

"Yeah, but you didn't, what does that make you?"

Loki said nothing in return, deciding that looking at the floor like a five year old was a better idea.

"See? Ungrateful little shit. I don't know what daddy did, but he could have at least taught you some manners." Tony immediately regretted what left his mouth. Loki's eyes, lit with a new fire in them, blazed toward Tony's direction.

"Get. Out." Loki said in a freakishly calm voice.

Tony crossed his arms, walking past the God and slamming the front door shut. Tony fought with all of his will not to go back into the apartment to when he heard a resounding smash come from in it.

_Most likely the coffee machine _Tony thought bitterly as he got into his car and went, Metallica blasting as loud as he could have it without bursting his ear drums. Tony drove to Avengers Tower, a large takeaway coffee in hand. The waitress that had served him almost swooned, and wouldn't stop trying to flirt. Tony almost invited her over, but choose against it, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach at the thought of it. _Odd._

Of course, Bruce had to be standing out the front, waiting for him with a single raised eyebrow.

"And where the hell have you been?" He asked calmly.

Tony rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. "Visiting the local Norse God." He said nonchalantely.

"All night?"

"Don't worry, I had my pants on when I woke up this morning." It was Bruce's turn to role his eyes.

"You really couldn't have just said you were going there? What had of happened if he tried to kill you or something? You don't have the suit or anything."

"Aw, Bruce! You really care." Tony said with a smug grin.

"No, I just don't want to be the one having to explain to the press why the body of Tony Stark was found dead in a New York apartment." Bruce deadpanned.

"I was perfectly fine. Loki's only hallucinating and tried throwing a glass at me and almost died."

Bruce took a couple of very deep breaths before following Tony, who was grinning, into the tower.

"I'm going to warn you, the others have been interigating me. You'd better have a good cover story. And what do you mean that Loki almost died?" Bruce questioned.

Tony shrugged as he walked into the elevator, Bruce following closely behind, still trying to control his breathing. Bruce suddenly perked up his head, looking a little to calm for Tony's liking as they were a few floors from the Rec floor.

"Oh, and Thor got here this morning as well." Bruce said as the elevator door pinged open.

Tony felt himself pale slightly as he came face to face with all six foot two of solid muscle Norse God.

"Man of Iron!" Thor boomed as he walked over to Tony and gave him a bone breaking smack on the back. He almost fell over from the impact and knew that he was going to have a bruise soon.

"Hey Point Break. Long time no see." Tony started, looking at the beaming God.

"It has been of time, has it not my fellow Midgardian's!" Thor said, making his way over to the couch that he was sitting on prior. Tony rubbed at his sore shoulder when Thor wasn't looking, trying not to wince too much.

"So, what brings you to Earth?" Tony questioned, taking a seat of his own as the other Avenger's sat around on the various leather couches.

"My father has informed me that a few of your Midgardian days ago, he sent my brother here to complete his sentence. I would wonder if you had seen him?" Thor questioned.

The room went completely tense. "He's here." Clint said, knuckles going white as he was clenching his fists so tight.

"The Allfather saw fit that he would serve his punishment as a mortal. He has faced Asgardian justice, and paid terribly for his crimes. He has had his magic stripped from him, and is to live on Midgard as long as the Allfather sees fit." Thor said, hints of sadness in his voice.

"Bullshit. It's been four months since he attacked, and all his going to get is a smack across the back of his hand?" Clint was seething in his chair.

Thor looked at him, "Hawk, he has paid for his crimes according to the laws of Asgard, quite sevearly. Physical punishment is often enforced, as well as mental punishment. He did not just have his magic taken from him, but..." Thor couldn't go on, and closed his eyes slowly, looking down. Tony tried not to blanch as he thought of the scars and bruising he had seen on Loki's that fateful morning. _What else have they done?_

The room remained quiet after that revelation, and the Avengers knew not to question futher when they saw how much it was effecting the God of Thunder. Clint seemed a little less tense.

"And so the Allfather thought to try and teach him humanity and humility by banishing him to Midgard and will not accept him back until he has respected the choices of his actions and apoligised himself for his actions to this realm." Thor concluded, still looking down. Tony felt like he was looking at a kicked puppy.

"So, Loki is here, on Earth, and we don't know where he is." Steve said, muttering the first words in a few minutes while everyone had prossesed the new information.

"So, what do we do?" Natasha said, looking up.

"We take the bastard into SHIELD. Get him to them. He can be their problem." Clint said through clenched teeth.

"We don't even know where he is." Steve said.

"Can't we just get SHIELD to scan for him?" Clint said, exasperated.

"If my brother wishes not to be found, your human allies will not be able to find him." Thor said with certainty.

"Then i'll find him." Tony said. He saw as Bruce quickly glanced at him with confusion before composing his expression.

"I can get Jarvis to run the scans. He'll be able to find him quicker than SHIELD, right Jarvs?"

"Of course sir." The AI replied smoothly.

"See? No problems. I'll find the deranged Reindeer and we won't need SHIELD storming our asses." Tony said, giving his trademark smirk. _No need to have Fury on my back at every waking moment _Tony thought with a small shudder.

"Fine." Clint snapped, standing up and moving towards the elevator. Everyone else shrugged and nodded in agreement, moving to do their own things. Not that they exactly looked like happy little campers themselves. The only one that seemed to show a tiny bit of hapiness at the current situation was Thor, and even the revelation was stretching it. Thor stood up from his position and walked over to Tony.

"Thank you, Man of Iron." Thor said genuinly, "I would rather your human agency not getting my brother, he has suffered through a lot." Thor said sadly.

"Please, just call me Tony. And any time big guy, you just owe me one." Tony said, trying to get out before he started getting a barrage of questions.

"Of course. When I shall need to 'owe you one,' I will be there." He said with a small, but still sad smile.

Tony nodded and got on the elevator, going straight down to his workshop. He had only a few blissful minutes before...

"When I said talk yourself out of it, I didn't mean back yourself into a corner. What are you going to tell them now?" Bruce said calmly, walking over to his own desk.

"I'll just tell them that Jarvis couldn't find him." Tony said with confidence.

"Sir, I do not appreciate my intelligence being mocked for your own expense." Jarvis replied coldly.

"Since when did you become a smart arse?" Tony muttered.

"Since you invented me, sir." Jarvis replied with a hint of boredom. Tony just rolled his eyes.

"Then i'll tell them that Loki has gone off the radar. Literally. He fell off the planet or something, I don't know." Tony said with exasperation. Bruce picked up one of his many tube vials and studied it and wrote something down.

"Well, as long as its convincing, or else you have to tell them everything."

"Why do I have to do it?" Tony whinned.

"Because you're the one who dragged him in here in the first place."

"You're never going to not use that one, are you?"

"No." Came the reply. Bruce was trying to keep the smile out of his voice.

"Fine." Tony said with a small smile of his own.

"What happens when SHIELD figure out Thor's here?" Bruce started, placing the vile back in its spot.

"Oh, i'm sure they already know. It's just a matter of time. I reckon we have about two, three hours, right Jarvis?"

"A SHIELD vehicle is already on its way." Jarvis informed.

"So, what are you going to say to them?" Bruce asked in curiosity.

"Thor's in my tower, so keep out of it?" Tony said. Bruce shook his head.

"You realise that's not going to keep Fury out of this."

"Oh, I know."

They continued to work for a few more minutes of silence.

"What happens when everyone finds out about Loki?" Bruce asked curiously.

"Well, you know as well as I do he's pretty harmless. Besides, he's all set up in that apartment of his, and when he's ready, we can get information on big grinning purple." Tony shrugged.

"Hm." Bruce mumbled something else under his breath, but Tony didn't catch it.

"Jarvis, can you place the orginal security footage into my personal file. And place a false recording onto the original?" Tone asked

"Already done, sir."

"See, no worries Brucie, we have our little secret, Fury won't be on our asses, and you can sleep better at night knowing the God that almost blew up New York is living close by in said city."

"Don't call me Brucie." Was all Banner replied with.

"Sir, it would appear Nick Fury of SHIELD is here." Jarvis spoke over the two.

"What happened to being here in a few hours?" Tony asked.

"Some things happen quicker than we think, or would want for them to start, Mr Stark."

Tony and Bruce almost jumped out of their skins and turned around to the deep voice that came from just beyind the room. Bruce tried to hide the green tint that was flushing his skin.

"You know, you really need to learn not to come from the shadows, Nick." Tony said a little nervously, swallowing deeply on the lump that had formed in his throat.

"And you need to learn when something needs to be informed to someone else. You have known of the war criminal Loki being on our planet since after the invasion for how long?"

"Oh, you would know all about hiding things Director." Tony said sourly.

"When it is a matter of World security, I believe we had the right to know." Fury glared at Tony.

"Look, he hasn't done anything, he's been harmless. For God's sake, no pun intended, he has a pair of strippy pyjamas! Because strippy pyjamas scream World domination, don't they?" Tony said, sarcasm dripping his features.

"You know full well that it was your responsibility to contact SHIELD as soon as you saw that crater."

"Well, I do things my way, you should know that by now."

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't pull you off the team right now Stark."

Bruce looked back and forth between the two, trying to keep his cool together. "Director, I think we can explain..."

"You want me off the team? Well, I guess that means you lose the suit as well, Nick." Tony said, standing straight.

"I am Iron Man, the suit is me, and I come with it. You don't want me on the team, you don't want Iron Man." Tony pulled the best card in the book.

"You have a lot of explaining to do then Stark and Banner. And everything you know as well. We do have a copy of the security footage to see if you're hiding anything imprtant." Fury said blandly.

"Jarvis, I thought they were deleted?"

"SHIELD must have gotten access to the footage before I completely finished the transfer, sir."

"You won't have me on the team long if you keep on hacking into my AI." Tony grumbled.

"I want the story, all of it." Fury demanded.

"Jarvis, the copies if you will." Tony said with a sigh, before flopping down on the nearest chair. After an hour and the condensed version of the last week, Tony looked to Fury.

And really wished he had taken a photo of the face. Not that it was funny, but because it was down right terrifying. _Which makes it funny._

"So we're dealing with another enemy. One that has means to get to Earth when you say his name, has another army which probably compares nothing toward the one that invaded New York mere months ago, and to top it all off, already knows things about the Avengers and SHIELD."

"See, not so bad." Tony said, trying to brighten the mood.

"We will be having a debriefing with the entire team. But for now, Thor is going to secure Loki with SHIELD agents and..."

"Wait, you're doing what?" Tony said bewildered.

"We're taking Loki into SHIELD custody."

"You sent Thor?" Tony said, moving out of the workshop at a break neck pace, activating the suit on the flight deck.

"Stark!" Fury shouted as Tony ran out of the room, "Banner, wait in the debriefing room." Fury said, running out the workshop door as well.

Bruce, once again, felt as he dropped his head onto the metal desk. _I'm going to get a permanent dent in my forehead from this._

Tony flew along in his suit over the park, ignoring the looks of pure shock and amazement that the people gave as they looked up to the sky. He had to stop New York from blowing up again. And this time, it wasn't from the threat of another missle.

Tony dropped from the sky and landed, where several SHIELD agents stood in front of it. Tony didn't listen to any of the things they were saying as he pushed past them, armour on. He walked the few short steps to were Loki's apartment would be.

As he walked to the door, SHIELD agents attempting to put a stop to his movements, he came face to face with two Norse Gods. One was giving one the death glare, the other had the expression of sorrow. And there was another agent as well, a particular agent who so happened to have an arrow locked firmly on his target, about to take out the emerald eye.

_Oh boy._

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**Review Responses**

**cara-tanaka **Thank you, once again, for the review :)

**kitkatthevampirelover92 **Thank you for the review. Maybe he will, maybe he won't, I shall let you ponder on it :P

**ELOSHAZZY **I'm glad your enjoying it!

**Soot **I'm so happy you love it! Very protective Tony is coming, I promise!

**fan girl 666 **Thanks for the review. Our favourite purple grinner will be making a cameo soon *Spolier :P*

**kakirovich **Your review really did make my day :D Believe me, Loki is going to get hurt really bad, but it may not happen for a little while, or it might. It really makes me happy when I see readers enjoying my story so much, and thank you for putting the time into that lovely review!

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**This is the only time I will post it; not everything is as it seems. If you can pick it out, I will allow you to ask me any question about this story or the series as a whole. It may pop up in this chapter, or the next, or throughout the entire series. Who knows? I surely don't. Anyways, now that is out of the way, I hope you enjoyed chapter seven, and I hope you continue your amazing responses.**


	9. I'm not giving you my stuff

**AN: Welcome to chapter eight everyone! Your reviews, favourites and follows make me feel really appreciated! Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart.**

**Warnings: A little bit of Protective!Tony, explicit language.**

_Italics - _Thoughts

"Text" - Speech

**Disclaimer: **

**Me: I wan't the Avengers for my birthday dad.**

**Dad: That doesn't mean you'll own it**

**Me Well, technically...**

**Dad: No.**

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**I'm not giving you my stuff**

"You know, I could report you all for breaking and entering." Tony said from his suit.

"Stark, don't try, the bastards getting everything he deserves." Clint said through a clenched jaw, bow still set on Loki.

Said Norse God snapped his head towards the direction of the pointed arrow.

"Oh, it's good to see you too, Agent Barton." Loki spat. Clint tensed, drawing the bow tighter.

"Give me one more god damn reason." Clint seethed.

"Hawk, killing my brother is not an option at this time." Thor attempted to reason with the angered bowman.

"I'm not your brother!" Loki growled on reflex.

"Okay, let's everyone take two steps back, you're not taking my stuff." Tony stepped through the apartment door. With all of the SHIELD agents, Clint, Thor and Loki, the small apartment was rather cramped. And the tension was to tight.

"Your stuff, Stark?" Clint questioned, turning his eyes for a split second to throw a sour glare at Tony.

"Yes, I found him first, therfore he's mine. Finders keepers." By this point, Tony flipped the mask of his suit up.

"I am not an animal to be tossed between mortals."

"Brother, co-operate with the humans, and I promise they will bring you no harm.

"Bullshit." Clint hissed

"Everybody stand down!"

Four heads snapped towards Fury, who led in several more SHIELD agents.

"Loki will be escorted to SHIELD headquaters, and everyone will be debriefed on the situation. Loki will remain in SHIELD custody until a sentence had been decided." Everyone but four figures relaxed slightly.

"Nick, he was perfectly fine until your agents came smashing through the door."

"Don't try it Stark or I will have you nothing more than a drooling pile of crap on the side of the road quicker than you can say shit." Tony flipped down his mask, and found as several guns and a bow was aimed at his head. Thor stepped to him.

"Son of Stark, do not betray your allies for the sake of my brother, it is not your battle to fight." Thor reasoned, glancing at Loki who was looking at Stark with surprise and curiosity.

"Fine." Tony said, taking a few steps back and flipping the mask back again.

"Arrest him." Fury said, turning away and walking out the door. Clint grabbed the cuffs one of the agent was holding and roughly put the cuffs on, looking way to satisfied from the small task. Loki noticed as well.

"I will only allow you the pleasure of doing this once, Barton, but believe me when I say it won't be happening again." Loki said in a rather bored voice.

"Okay, that's it, son of a bitch!" Clint grabbed his bow again. Two sets of arms shot out and grabbed one of Clint's arms each.

"Whoa brid brain, ease off the trigger." Tony said. Thor looked extremely tense as he tried to put himself awkwardly between Clint and Loki

"Get off me." Clint growled dangerously, pulling his arms to himself and putting the bow on his back and storming out the room after Fury. All the while as he was being escorted towards the vehicle, Loki had a ear splitting grin on his face. Tony almost smirked. _Smug bastard _He thought as he got in the SUV with the armour on, plopping down next to Loki, who had decided that the spot on the floor was the newest interesting thing to happen since the invention of the wheel.

"Sorry Reindeer games; you win some, you lose some." Tony finished with a shrug.

Then proceeded to frown deeply as Loki sent him a glowering look in his direction.

_God, the mood changes around here._

The rest of the ride to the new SHIELD base was awkward to say the least. Tony watched as Loki continued looking at the ground, and how Thor had big, sad puppy dog eyes, and he kept looking at Loki in quick glances. Tony was never more relieved to arrive at a SHIELD compound. Ever

Several guards came into the vehicle and grabbed Loki, who was grinning again. Tony and Thor were immediately escorted through several halls until they arrived into a large conference room, where the rest of the Avengers stood and some SHIELD guards, with Nick Fury at the head of the room. He nodded to the SHIELD agents on the side, and they quietly left the room, one of the girls bumping into Tony as he came through.

"Sorry." She quickly mumbled, putting a hand up to her ear piece in embarresment. Tony shrugged, still in his suit with the mask up. She left to quickly for Tony to say otherwise.

"Stark, I believe you owe everyone in this room an explenation, and you to, Doctor Banner." Fury started with a glare towards the two very uncomfortable looking males.

"You were in on this to Banner?" Natasha said calmly. Bruce just squeezed his fingers and glanced down at the floor.

"How long?" Steve questioned.

"Six days." Tony mumbled.

The team stared at the two, eyes flicking around at the two figures, before the room started to descend into chaos.

"What the fuck?" Clint screamed,m standing up and approaching Tony in the face.

"Whoa, get back bird." Tony said standing his ground.

"Bruce, why did you keep this from us?" Steve snapped.

"Because I knew this was how everyone was going to react."

"My allies, please stop this bickering, my brother means no harm!"

"He tried destroying the entirety of New York less than four months ago." Natasha said dangerously.

"The Allfather sent him here to complete his punishment, there is nothing he will do."

"Yeah right, until he stabs us at night." Clint retorted, turning back to Tony.

"You don't know that." Tony said to Clint.

"What, because you suddenly know Loki as your best friend, Stark?"

"Clint, he won't hurt us." Bruce said quietly, trying to keep calm.

"How can you defend Loki?" Steve asked in bewilderment.

"If you could all just stop for a second..." Fury tried to intervene.

"Because Tony's still alive." Bruce replied.

"And what does that have to do with anything?" Natasha said, glaring at Tony.

"Nothing, it has nothing to do with anything. All we know is that we have more important things to worry about than Rock of Ages!"

"That doesn't make a difference. He killed agents, friends. He killed Coulson for fuck sake! He needs to be trialed for that!" Clint yelled.

"It wasn't Loki's fault!" Tony screamed right back.

"ENOUGH!" the room flashed white and a resounding boom of thunder crackled through the teams ears. Thor stood, shaking slightly. Bruce was tinted a dangerous shade of green. The room remained still for several moments, eyes flickering heatedly between each other, waiting for the reason to punce at each other again.

Nick was the first one to recover. "Thank you Thor. Now if you would all sit down, I will show you the tapes from the last few days, then we shall decide what to do. No one will say a word until these tapes are finished, is that clear?"

several replies of yes sir were grumbled back, except for one "Yes pirate." Fury glowered at Stark, who just shrugged and started uploading the footage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Oh the irony._

That was the first thing Loki could think as he was dragged into the metal beast the humans called cars. Once again, he was being escorted by the Avengers back to the mortal company that calles themselves SHIELD.

But after everything that had happened with _him, _Loki couldn't help but feel a strange tinge of safety. But it faded as quickly as it came.

The titan still had his subconscious form, and now that he was out of the safety of the place Stark had provided him, he was once again exposed if he was to fall asleep. Considering the mortals already hated him for his actions against their realm, he figured they would not offer the same hospitality as Stark did.

_Why did Stark help me? I have brought nothing but chaos to their realm, and yet he has willingly given me the same respect one would if they were friends. This unhinged kindness form the mortal does not make sense. Why does he insist that he helps me? I am nothing more than the remnants of a prince... I was never even really that..._

Loki continued to look down at the floor, deep in thought and ignoring the concerned looks that Thor kep giving him.

_Thor. Why would he continue to believe I am capable of something that I am not? Odin has finally accepted with grace that I shall bring nothing but falsehood and shame to the royals and has therefore banished me to Midgard. Why my bro... Thor, why he would continue to insist that I am capable of correcting my flaws is beyond me. There is nothing that I can correct. I am a Jotun, a monster._

Loki hardly realised that he was being pulled up from his spot in the van and was being dragged to another holding cell. He pulled the his arm, which were still in the cuffs, towards him and straightened his back, walking head up. He didn't really feel the air of threat come form him. _It is because I am wearing this Midagrdian attire still. _Loki scolwed as he walked.

The cell was similar to what he had been in on the helicarrier, except this time there were SHIELD agents posted there to continue watch. Loki rolled his eyes as the door shut behind him.

"This is oddly familiar." He mumbled to himself, watching as the agents walked away and in place a young girl stood to take the first shift.

"Yes, for more than one." Loki turned around, eyes flying open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And that is why he won't hurt us." Tony concluded, finishing up the story in his own words.

"So you're saying this... Thing, was either forcing Loki or somewhat controlling him to take over the Earth." Clint said hesitantly. Tony and Bruce nodded.

"So, Thor, any idea what this thing is?" Steve asked, looking towards a very distressed Thor.

"There are legends and tales of such creatures. There power, unlimited; there names can only be whispered, but none escape the consequence. These Titans of the deep were said to be nothing more than a nightmare for children, but some of us feared of there existense." Thor said, "If my brother had come across one of these Titans after his fall, I have no doubt that his actions were not entirely of his own." Thor concluded gravely.

The room was quiet as everyone prosessed the information.

"So, we have a new enemy, one that is more powerful than all of us. And is most likely the thing that has Loki in his sleep. The big bad purple grinning diva of death. Things can't get much brighter than that, can it?"

"Stark, now is not the time. We need to question Loki on his knowledge of this... Creature." Fury said, hesitating at saying the name.

"And how will we do that exactly? It's not like we can just casually ask him about the things his probably freaking out about, its..."

The PA suddenly crackled to life.

"Director Fury to holiding cell 24B immediately."

"Shit, that's Loki's cell." Fury said, moving out the door as the others followed behind, running down the corridors as fast as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LOKI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How, what?" Loki stumbled, back pressed up against the glass.

"Yes, I am here Loki, and this time it is very real." Thanos said with a grin. Loki looked around to the girl who was standind guard, who looked straight through Thanos and was looking at Loki with confusion.

"Oh, Laufeyson, you would think that the little Liesmith could keep running away, but that stops. Very soon."

"What do you want?" Loki asked boldly.

"Oh, nothing for now. I was merely here to observe you at my expense. It is fun when you are scared. More satisfying, somehow. But I still have to say, we never got to finish our game of yes or no. You have somehow managed to figure out how to stop yourself from dreaming, or waking up from the dream at the very least. But not now. I know where you are Laufeyson, it is only a matter of time before the rest arrive as well. You seem to have formed an alliance with this Avenger, one Tony Stark." Loki's very soul was frozen by the time he finished his statement.

"What do you want from him, Thanos?"

The Titan grinned and appeared right before Loki, who tried not to look to scared and was failing miserably.

"I can see it, little Jotun, I can see the fear in your eyes. Not only for your own safety, but that of this other Avenger. There will come the time, which is fast approaching. It will begin with ice, than fire, than the very Earth will crumble. Metal will perish in my grasp. It begins soon, little God." Thanos finished, before grasping Loki's hand, who fell to the floor and started convulsing. He turned with a grin, seeing the audience he had gathered.

"Be warned, prince, this is only the beginning of the end. Fire will rain."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TONY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Be warned, prince, this is only the beginning of the end. Fire will rain." And with that, Tony watched as purple disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Clint whispered, looking clammy.

"That doesn't matter, let me in that cage." Bruce said. That was when the rest of the Avengers noticed Loki in the cage.

Fury pushed a few buttons, and everyone rushed into the cell to the convulsing God.

"What the hell is going on here?" Clint said, bewildered.

"What's happening to Loki?" Tony said, pushing through in the suit and crouching down next to the God.

"It's a seizure of some kind, it should pass." Bruce said, noticing as the spasms became less and less.

"My brother, what have you befriended." Thor whispered, grabbing the hand of his little brother while thinking about the Titan he had just seen.

"What about what he said to you, Thor? What does it mean?" Natasha questioned.

"I do not know... I know not what he spoke, but it would appear he is to launch an attack soon. I fear for the safety of the realms." Thor said with concern, still seated near his brother who was only twitching slightly.

"Looks like his coming around." Bruce informed, noticing as Loki's breathing became clean once again and his convulsions had stopped.

"Brother..." Thor gently whispered.

"I'm not your brother." A voice murmured softly. Loki's eyes snapped open in fear.

"Where is it, what?" Loki looked around at the ring of Avengers circling him.

"This all seems rather familiar." He muttered darkly. Tony smirked a little.

"Would you like a drink, then?" Loki just smirked slightly in return.

"Okay, gentlemen, ladies, if you wouldn't mind, but what the hell was that?" Fury asked on behalf of everyone. Loki's eyes widened suddenly.

"Thor, you must return to Asgard, immediately." Loki said, pushing himself up.

"But brother..."

"he's going to try and steal something."

Clint narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "How do we know you're not lying?"

"He isn't." Tony said, stepping back.

"And you would know..."

"Forget this everyone. There has been an energy spike in the New Mexico desert. You're all going, including you Loki. You are now an active part of this investigation until the threat passes over." Fury left the room before anyone could protest.

They all got onto the jet that would take them to New Mexico within a few hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBVIOUS TIME BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip was quiet, with three of the six Avengers glaring with nothing less than hatred at Loki, who was looking unfocused toward the floor. _So much for almost looking sympathetic for the guy at one point_. The fact that he was still in Earth clothes almost made Tony chuckle on several occasions, if it wasn't for the fact that big purple had gotten into Loki's cage without setting off alarms and making him crash to the floor convulsing like some outdated computer with a single touch, tony would have laughed. Loudly. While pointing at Loki and making a few jokes at his expense.

Tony figured at least some of the team would have started to relax around Loki by now, seeing as they had seen the footage with the sound and now at least understood the course of Bruce and Tony's avtions. And by some of the team, he meant Clint, Natasha and Steve. Thor didn't count, because no matter how many times Loki was ready to murder Thor over and over again for calling him his brother, Thor was still going to do it, and there was no doubt that the muscled Asgardian loved Loki.

Bruce was hesitant, but then again, Bruce was always hesitant. But in the end, Bruce had been the one to help Loki with Tony in the first place. He could have had the option of letting the Hulk kill Loki right there and then, but had decided against it. Why, Tony wasn't quite to sure, but he was just grateful that Bruce was a generous person.

Tony had honestly expected Steve to have a very different reaction to this. The Capsicle was often one for the soft spot for the under dog, the one tossed aside. Maybe he was just as old fashioned as Tony ever came to realise. In the day, if you were bad, there wasn't a second chance to become good, or justify your actions. You were labelled and that was that.

Clint and Natasha were going to have the same opinion of him, even if he redeemed himself and saved their skins at some point. The assassins were known to hold grudges. And seein as that grudge was evolved aroung Clint becoming a walking potato, Tony knew not to expect for them to become BFF's. _But somehow _Tony thought _This will all work out for the better_

_Were does that leave me though? Why am I analysing the likes of the Avengers and worrying whether they like Loki or not? Why did I even help him in the first place?_

As Tony pondered, the jet made its final descent onto the sandy plains. and jumped as the back of the jet opened to reveal dirt. A lot of dirt, and a SHIELD compound surrounding something. Tony knew he was going to be pulling out bits of grim from his suit for a while.

The all got out, looking around the place, unfamiliar. Except for Fury, Thor and Clint.

"So, what is this place?" Tony asked.

"It is the Bifrost site, our connection between Midgard and Asgard lies here." Thor announced. Loki looked at Thor in confusion.

"The Bifrost has been rebuilt." Loki nodded his head slowly, shuffling between his feet and trying not to think too much.

"Director Fury." A SHIELD agent in a suit came up to him.

"Agent Sitwell, I received transmition that an energy spike had been recorded, any idea what it is?"

"Very similar to our Norse buddy over here." He said, before looking at Loki and perching an eyebrow.

"Loki is to remain with the Avengers, we have a new threat. I will debrief you after this."

Sitwell nodded and led the eight into the building and through to the court, were clouds were starting to build up.

"This is the gate I landed on." Thor said, "And you are proposing that this energy signature is of the Aesir?" Sitwell nodded.

"Sir, we've got spiking again." They heard an agent yell out.

Everyone looked up to the sky as the clouds rolled in, a deep rumbling ripple sounded. The clouds drew in, starting to form a tornadic shape and fall to the ground. There was a resounding bang as the clouds cleared and the dust settled. Everyone who had their heads turned looked towards the now occupied rune on the floor. A lone figure was aloft a mighty steed, golden armour shining and the eight legged horse stood proud.

Thor was the first to speak.

"Father?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBVIOUS PAGE BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Review Responses**

**cara-tanaka ** Thank you for the review :) There always appreciated!

**Soot **Please sign the disclousure that states I am not held responsible for failing grades :P Tony's only a little protective in this chapter, but it will escalate, I promise :D Thanks for the review.

**kakirovich **For the while, they don't really trust him to much, the Avengers are under the denial rock :P But they may or may not see one of his sleeping episodes later. Thanks again for the awesome review, they make me so happy!

**Guest **Don't die! Then you wouldn't be able to read more :P Thanks for the review!

**fan girl 666 **Whether Loki gets his powers back sooner rather than later, i'm still tossing up. But dented foerheads are really gonna be the least of the teams problems soon *wink.* Thank you for reviewing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBVIOUS PAGE BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Bit of a cliffy for you. Everything is starting to fall into place, but believe me when I saw this is only the beginning. Anyway, read and review, and chapters shall be posted as on the weekly schedule along with the odd extra chapter throughout the weeks. I love all of my readers!**


	10. Note

**Hey guys,**

**This is just a quick AN to let you know that I won't be updating the story for another week at least on top of this. I have to get some tests done at the hospital again, and I am currently in the middle of organising a Beta reader, as well as school stuff etc, etc.**

**I will be posting the new chapter in replacement of this AN. I'm sorry to go back on the promising regular updates already, but I will get back into the swing of things in at least two weeks.**

**Thanks for understanding,**

**-transformers001**


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